California was still a conservative state through the '70s and slowly began to become infiltrated by leftists in the '80s. I live in a rural, conservative part of the state far removed from most of "fruits and nuts" that many refer to in California.
I grew up in the Bay Area, but we had a place to escape to up in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The town I grew up in was great in the 70s, at least compared to what it’s become. Every time I have visited it feels more like another planet.