It all started to go downhill after Sept. 9 1850. The day they became a state in our great Republic.
Close. I’d say the year before. In 1849, the California Gold Rush occurred (49ers). People wanting something for nothing, or at least that they could dig out of the ground without having to work too long, flocked there. Descendents of easy money seekers made California what it is today. Add in the same sort of thinking when Hollywood came of age and the hippies came to prominence, and there you have it.
This is compared to a family oriented, operations (farming) minded midwest and a mercantile East Coast. Nowhere is perfect, but the population of California certainly came from somewhere close to the historical events that I mentioned.