I lived in San Diego for ~10 years.
It was one of the sanER areas.
CA has a LOT of people, many conservative. The eastern and central portions of CA are conservative. California is labeled for the representatives, like Boxer and Feinstein, the Governator etc. the Hollywood left and the West Hollywood, San Francisco queer crowds. Political correctness dorks in the densely populated city areas along the coast fill in the margin, and viola! CA is the most corrupt place in the US.
Where you lived, and my folks still live, produced and elected such conservatives as Duncan Hunter. Only a relatively small margin exists between conservatives and liberals, and that means MILLIONS of conservatives suffer the liberal govt that has dominated the state. In most every state, the margin between the two extremes is not that great, and the MSM and public education with their anti-American agendas have succeeded in compiling the numbers to see the entire country go the route CA is laughed at about.