A couple of decades ago I lived in the Santa Ynez Valley, in the mountains above Santa Barbara. Yes, Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch is/was located there, but most of the towns in this valley, at least when I lived there, were VERY conservative. Santa Barbara and Goleta are nearby....Goleta has all the big box stores, such as Costco, Sam’s Club, etc. etc. Nice weather in the Santa Ynez Valley, and lots of vineyards. I lived in Solvang.....a slice of Denmark in small town California.
Texas, as you know, has no state income tax. California has a high income tax and will most likely go even higher in the near future. From what I heard, Santa Barbara has a large TEA Party contingent, in spite of being a rather liberal city.
Now I do dig the architecture in Santa Barbara. I love that Spanish style with the clay tiled roofs