Paso Robles, Calif. ? An earthquake rocked California’s central coast Monday and shook the state from Los Angeles to San Francisco, collapsing old downtown buildings in this small town and killing at least two people in the rubble.

The 11:16 a.m. quake — its magnitude measured at 6.5 — pitched the roof of Paso Robles’ 1892 clock tower building into the street, crushing a row of parked cars in this San Luis Obispo County town about 20 miles east of the epicenter. More than 40 other buildings were damaged.

It was the first deadly earthquake since the 6.7-magnitude temblor that hit Northridge in 1994, and the most powerful to strike California since a 7.1 quake rocked the desert near Joshua Tree more than four years ago. No one was killed in the 1999 quake.

The main shock Monday was centered in a sparsely populated area about 11 miles north of the coastal town of Cambria. It was immediately followed by at least 50 aftershocks larger than 3.0, the biggest of which was estimated at 4.7, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake shook the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, the estate of the legendary publisher William Randolph Hearst. The castle — a particularly popular tourist attraction this time of its year because of its Hearst family Christmas ornaments — reported no injuries and no immediate signs of any serious damage but was evacuated as a precaution.

The quake also shook the federal courthouse in San Francisco, 165 miles to the northwest of the epicenter, and sent the building’s upper floors swaying for about 30 seconds. People in downtown Los Angeles, 185 miles southeast, felt a sustained rolling motion.

“It was pretty sharp,” said Sharyn Conn, receptionist at the oceanside Cypress Cove Inn in Cambria, population 6,200.

In Paso Robles, the bodies of Jennifer Myrick, 19, of Atascadero, and Marilyn Zafuto, 55, of Paso Robles, were found on the sidewalk outside a dress shop, police Sgt. Bob Adams said.

Rescue workers uncover cars after a powerful earthquake collapsed buildings and killed at least two people in Paso Robles, Calif. Monday's earthquake magnitude was measured at 6.5.

Friends and family members of one of the victims in the earthquake collapse of a two-story building comfort each other moments after learning of the death in Paso Robles, Calif. An earthquake rocked California's central coast Monday.