{"id":488300,"date":"2026-10-07T18:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488300\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T18:32:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T18:32:11","slug":"california-is-the-best-state-in-the-country-but-well-take-one-lesson-from-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/488300\/","title":{"rendered":"California is the best state in the country. But we’ll take one lesson from Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We sat at a circular table with a pink tablecloth against two huge single-pane windows that met in the wedge of a street corner. Inside a Cantonese restaurant with a view of the foggy San Francisco night, a place picked by my oh-so sophisticated local cousin Noreen, plates piled with orange chicken and honey walnut shrimp paraded past me on the lazy Susan<\/a> in the center. I was 8 or 9 years old, had never seen such a contraption, and had never felt fancier.<\/p>\n

Memories like these compound with time and taste. Late-night al pastor tacos from a stall in the Rampart district of Los Angeles. Untold orders of combo plates or carne asada fries from any of the dozens of taquer\u00edas in metropolitan San Diego with names that end in -berto. A simple, abundant cheese plate on the patio of a winery in Temecula, or Napa Valley or Santa Ynez Valley. My first slice of Zachary\u2019s deep-dish spinach pizza in Rockridge, Oakland.<\/p>\n

A lamb skewer. A banh mi. A roadhouse cheeseburger. Pho. A Guatemalan tamal. A chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc. A West Coast IPA. A slice of Julian apple pie.<\/p>\n

California is the most supreme territory in which one can eat at the widest degrees of sensory satisfaction in this country. Actually \u2014 by volume, scale and range \u2014 I\u2019d say this is true by far. It\u2019s been said many times before<\/a> and it\u2019s worth repeating in this space, as this edition of L.A. Omnivore arrives as more of a treatise. If California is the best state to eat in the country, and if, like me, your brain is hopelessly food-wired, this makes California arguably the best place to live among these United States.<\/p>\n

\"Above, <\/p>\n

The strength of California\u2019s food cultures is owed to its awesome diversity of diaspora. Above, a taco sampler from the original Guisados in Boyle Heights.<\/p>\n

(Silvia Razgova \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Beyond its food culture, when considering its coastline, awesome geographic features, diversity of population, records in industry and innovation, and general strength in the global culture, California is the most important state in the union. By far.<\/p>\n

As the midterm election approaches and Republican candidates across the country use our state\u2019s name<\/a> as an all-purpose boogeyman of what not to be, it\u2019s time we reconnect with reality. It\u2019s all B.S. We must begin to own the actual truth. Proclaim it. Stand by it. After a whole lifetime of being told how unlivable and ridiculous our state is whenever I travel elsewhere (or whenever I have the misfortune of dealing with an embittered transplant), I\u2019ve swung my pendulum in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not holding back anymore. I\u2019ve become a California exceptionalist.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading L.A. Omnivore <\/p>\n

Daniel Hernandez digs into the stickiest questions around food and culture in Los Angeles and the California borderlands.<\/p>\n

By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n

\"Farm <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t mess with our California oranges! Above, farm owner Bianca Kaprielian in Reedley.<\/p>\n

(Tomas Ovalle \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

Enough is enough<\/p>\n

We must reembrace and herald California\u2019s exceptional status, a notion I didn\u2019t invent by any means. Historian and journalist Carey McWilliams did with his 1949 book \u201cCalifornia: The Great Exception<\/a>,\u201d a volume that\u2019s credited with setting the baseline<\/a> of California\u2019s modern mythologies.<\/p>\n

Forty-nine other states and a few territories would probably like a word, right? You can disagree. A recent private-sector survey named California the 31st-most desirable state to live in, not the 1st. That would be Idaho, according to WalletHub<\/a>. On affordability alone, the website ranks California 50th.<\/p>\n

Our state definitely has major problems, which are exploited gleefully<\/a> around each election cycle. So many algorithms are chock-full of messaging deriding our state for its problems with affordability, housing costs, homelessness, the wealth gap, or regulation and bureaucracy. Adding inflation, people and small businesses are hurting in our state, and in L.A. especially<\/a>. Many have given up and are deciding to leave<\/a>.<\/p>\n

However, the promise of affordability advantages in lesser locales are not always fruitful. The cost-of-living has risen more sharply in once-mythical Austin, Seattle, Denver, Portland and Atlanta, among others, than it has in Los Angeles, according to a recent analysis by L.A. Times reporter Terry Castleman. He found that people who left L.A. for these places since 2020 \u201care paying more now than when they arrived<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an exodus reversal happening, as seen by a growing body of relevant anecdotes. Many such tales involve Texas<\/a>, a state that I\u2019ve always felt believes its own delusions far more strenuously than most.<\/p>\n

\"Balboa <\/p>\n

Balboa Park in San Diego is one of several features that one California-to-Texas transplant missed the most, according to Business Insider. So she moved back.<\/p>\n

(Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Priscilla Barros, for example, moved her family from Murrieta to Houston in 2021 to \u201csave money, have a bigger house,\u201d then found reality hit against the move\u2019s fabled advantages. \u201cThe state\u2019s politics, weather, and lack of mountains or beaches made me realize the grass isn\u2019t always greener on the other side,\u201d Barros told Business Insider<\/a> this year.<\/p>\n

The weather was oppressive and Texas\u2019 cheap brand-new homes, she surmised, were being built too quickly and under par. She realized she missed the land itself, California\u2019s greatest capital, its restaurants, parks, mountains, beaches and landmarks. So in 2025, Barros moved back. \u201cI\u2019ll never move out of state again,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n

There are many<\/a> more such stories<\/a> out there, not limited to the Texas return<\/a>. It\u2019s time we start trusting the people who\u2019ve been coming back. <\/p>\n

Remember these data points<\/p>\n

Whenever you\u2019re confronted with a California naysayer, record the following points and keep them handy for future use. California is:<\/p>\n

The largest state by population, with more than 39 million people.The fourth-largest economy<\/a> in the world. If California were its own country, its economy would be bigger than Japan\u2019s, India\u2019s, the United Kingdom\u2019s, France\u2019s, Russia\u2019s or Canada\u2019s. The largest agricultural state, growing 75% of the nation\u2019s fruits and nuts and at least a third of its vegetables, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture<\/a>.Home to 80% of wine production<\/a> in the United States and 95% of U.S. wine exports globally.The center, for better or worse, of the artificial intelligence and tech industries, worth unimaginable trillions<\/a> in the form of capital investments at Nvidia, OpenAI, Anthropic, Alphabet, Apple and others. While some companies made dramatically bitchy exits from the state in recent years, there are signs that several are itching to get back<\/a> to the golden coast. The historic center of the film and television industry, and despite the doom narratives, still its leader. California\u2019s film and sound industries generated $57 billion<\/a> in 2025; that\u2019s exactly half of the national film industry\u2019s economic output, $114 billion<\/a> last year, according to federal data. A place where you live a long life. Life expectancy in California is ranked sixth by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> as of 2025.Home to two of the most admired universities in the world, Stanford and UC Berkeley. Berkeley is also the best public university globally (according to Times Higher Education<\/a>), plus the nine other campuses that sprung from it, including prestigious UCLA and UC San Diego.Also home to Caltech, USC and the Claremont Colleges, the 22-campus California State University system, plus the largest network of community colleges<\/a> in the country. Education is worth belaboring because clusters of high-performing colleges and universities are correlated to powering economic growth<\/a>.The incubator for innumerable cultural innovations and political breakthroughs, from the lowrider<\/a> to fitness culture, skating<\/a> to the California burrito<\/a>, gay rights, immigrant rights, disability rights. \"A <\/p>\n

California\u2019s skate culture is one of several global exports that endure for generations. <\/p>\n

(James Michael Juarez \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

So by now you\u2019re thinking, OK, inflation is still socking me in the face. It feels like everyone is teetering on one bad month or two away from homelessness. Also, Daniel, the AI industry might be threatening the human species and the film industry is consolidating and hemorrhaging before our eyes. Be serious…<\/p>\n

And you\u2019re right. The bad things are bad. As we cope and find solutions, we\u2019re still in a place where at any time we can leave the house and find ourselves at: <\/p>\n

The highest peak in the contiguous U.S.: Mt. Whitney<\/a>, at 14,500 feet.Just 140 miles away, the lowest point in North America, at Death Valley<\/a>, 282 feet below sea level.Yosemite National Park<\/a>.Mt. Shasta.840 miles of sparkling Pacific coastline.Lake Tahoe<\/a>.Mono Lake.Big Sur<\/a>.The Golden Gate Bridge, since 1937.The Hollywood sign, since 1923.Balboa Park, since 1868.Golden Gate Park, since 1870.Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks.Joshua Tree National Park<\/a>.Redwood National Park.Disneyland<\/a>.LAX (just kidding).Any one of our state\u2019s 22,000<\/a> Mexican restaurants.The border with Mexico itself, because, honestly \u2014 thank goodness<\/a>.[Name any of the dozens of other geographic, cultural, historical or weird landmarks that can be found only here. It would require another whole newsletter.] <\/p>\n

Join me in no longer entertaining any of the doomer hype. Instead, if you\u2019re so moved, you may even be spurred to demand some gratitude from an out-of-state doomer. Because what would you be without us, Mississippi or West Virginia? For one \u2014 since California is one of the biggest \u201cdonor states\u201d to the federal tax base \u2014 a lot poorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The dark vision of what California is in the Musk-ian or Miller-ist worldview is unreal and inaccurate. Steve Hilton is wrong about us<\/a> too. Taking all this in, there\u2019s only so much doomer propaganda a mind can take before it clamors for revolt.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

Stand up, California! Or, as the case may be, ride a bike with an upward fist on the Ocean Front Walk in Venice Beach!<\/p>\n

(Dania Maxwell \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Something to learn from Texas<\/p>\n

Now there is one score where Texas is way ahead of us: state pride. Having visited and enjoyed Austin, Fort Worth and the Rio Grande Valley several times, everywhere I\u2019ve turned, some bumper sticker or billboard is triumphantly declaring \u201cDon\u2019t Mess With Texas\u201d or branded with the flag of the Texas Republic. Texas pride is like wading through soup. <\/p>\n

In contrast, the vibe in California still seems far less braggadocious than it could legitimately muster to be. We\u2019re just too groovy to be boastful, I guess. But this is about putting our foot down. We can defend the state without disavowing its problems. Love for California is what spurs so many of its people to call out its flaws and agitate for change. This space will always err on the side of pushing for better.<\/p>\n

For a lot of us it always goes back to the food. The range, the variety, the freshness, the ecstatic culture of experimentation. That Cantonese feast in San Francisco burned this worldview into my childhood brain. Every day offers moments in the senses that can make California\u2019s too-frequent drudgeries feel \u201cworth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now are you a California exceptionalist?<\/p>\n

\"Redwoods\" <\/p>\n

Redwood forestland in Mendocino County.<\/p>\n

(Max Forster \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Reading the state, and between the linesI\u2019m currently reading \u201cCalifornia: A History<\/a>\u201d by the late Kevin Starr. It\u2019s a decent, optimistic sweep so far, part of a major stream in my reading diet that centers state history, especially from alternative perspectives. More on that later.Recently, The Times\u2019 Shelby Grad wrote about the last time Los Angeles had a somewhat rosy moment<\/a>, as symbolized by the pastoral musical film \u201cLa La Land.\u201dConservative or libertarian-centric media voices use us as a punching bag a lot. The most lavish example is probably \u201cThe California Dream Is Dying<\/a>\u201d by Conor Friedersdorf in the Atlantic. Many naysayer arguments boil down to \u201ceconomic opportunity\u201d and, forgive me, I like a layer or two of protections for competition, the environment, and society at large from the fangs of totally unfettered capitalism, how about you?The Times\u2019 business columnist Michael Hiltzik did a convincing breakdown and rebuttal<\/a> to Friedersdorf. Hiltzik is a weekly must-read for me. He\u2019s author of a new history of his own, \u201cGolden State: The Making of California<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n

In future L.A. Omnivore dispatches, I\u2019ll discuss what it means now to be \u201cCalifornian,\u201d a term which I believe is in desperate need of a redefinition. I\u2019ll also posit a new pan-Californian identity that can replace our, ahem, out-of-date provincialisms.<\/p>\n

Sign up at the module box above or at this link<\/a> to stay up to date.<\/p>\n