Over the year, the mountains are visible at least half the time, probably 2/3 of the time, not from smog, just hazy “marine layer.” There is not the kind of smog there used to be in the 70s when I was a kid.
Now... The SNOW on the mountains in only there for about 2 months... It’s gone of course....
But on the other side of the hill one can see the ocean from here and mostly the hills of Catalina (the big island offshore Socal). The ocean is a thin strip of silver from here but sometimes you can make out a container ship or two.
I visited Ontario back in the early 90’s and stayed at the holiday inn. one morning I got up and caught my ride and lo and behold there were mountains..... seemingly right there
I had been there three or four days and they not visible
I’m glad the atmosphere has improved