By Timothy D. Naegele[1]

California is not the gruesome politics of Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, Los Angeles' Mayor Karen Bass and their Democrats.  It is not the burnt-out areas of Los Angeles that have been subjected to flooding and landslides as rains descended—and are still closed.[2]

California thrives in its magnificent God-given beauty, and the diversity and talents of its residents.

My parents met as grade school students in Minneapolis, and came to Los Angeles years later.  They honeymooned at the glorious Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, and built our home a mile or so west of the UCLA campus, just south of the fabled Sunset Boulevard.

It is still a charming area today, not far from the main Getty Museum.  But the area is far less ostentatious than Beverly Hills to the east, Bel Air to the northeast, and Brentwood and the burnt-out areas of Malibu to the west.  As kids, three of us rode our Schwinn bikes to the Village and Bruin theaters in Westwood to watch movies on Saturdays.

I attended Brentwood elementary school; a year at Harvard School with a broken wrist in two casts from playing baseball; Emerson Junior High; and University High School.  I felt, and still feel that I was privileged to have a public school education.  Some of my classmates were rich and famous; most were not.[3]. But we were friends, and there was no discrimination.

Hispanic culture permeated Southern California then, as it does the state today.  They are hard-working, wonderful Americans; and their food is my favorite but it is fattening.  Like America itself, California's culture is diverse, consisting of almost every color, religion and ethnic background that exists.

I began college at UCSB, or UCLA's smaller cousin just up the coast—from which my two kids and one of my granddaughters graduated years later.  Again, I met some wonderful people, who would remain friends for life.[4]. Living next to the Pacific Ocean was an experience unto itself.

The Vietnam War affected my generation dramatically.  My father said that I should be an officer, so I went through ROTC, never thinking that the war would be raging when I finished my undergraduate studies.  The Army would defer me for law school but not business school, so I enrolled at Berkeley which was the best law school in the state.

It was located at one corner of the campus; and during breaks, my classmates and I walked down the hill to the undergraduate campus, where Mario Savio and the "Free Speech Movement" held rallies, which spread nationwide ultimately.  John F. Kennedy was shot and killed in Dallas as I traveled back to LA for Thanksgiving vacation.

I waited on tables at a sorority house a block or so from the law school; and I explored the magnificent California coast north of San Francisco.  The Sea Ranch and other beautiful locations became my favorites, as well as Point Lobos south of the charming Carmel and Pebble Beach.  Farther south are the Big Sur and Hearst Castle, which are known to the world.

As a Boy Scout, I had gone to a summer camp in Sequoia National Park; and years later I spent a week studying photography with Ansel Adams in Yosemite.  Both parks are breathtakingly glorious.  Indeed, from Lassen Volcanic National Park in the north, to Lake Tahoe and Death Valley and Joshua Tree National Park, California is a wonderland available to all.

Tragically, crime and ever-growing poverty and homelessness blight this otherwise idyllic setting, which require love, care and not lip service.[5]  Being the fifth largest economy in the world, some might hope that it would become an independent nation[6] . . . or simply drift out to sea with its uber-Leftists aboard.  But it isn't going to happen.  We California lovers are blessed.

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© 2025, Timothy D. Naegele

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[1]  Timothy D. Naegele was counsel to the United States Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and chief of staff to Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal recipient and former U.S. Senator Edward W. Brooke (R-Mass).  See, e.g., Timothy D. Naegele Resume-21-8-6  and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/accomplishments/   He has an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), as well as two law degrees from the School of Law (Boalt Hall), University of California, Berkeley, and from Georgetown University.  He served as a Captain in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency at The Pentagon, where he received the Joint Service Commendation Medal (see, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commendation_Medal#Joint_Service).  Mr. Naegele is an Independent politically; and he is listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, and Who’s Who in Finance and Business. He has written extensively over the years (see, e.g., https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/articles/ and https://naegeleknol.wordpress.com/articles/), and studied photography with Ansel Adams.  He can be contacted directly at tdnaegele.associates@gmail.com

[2]  See https://malibutimes.com/pacific-coast-highway-closure-extended-indefinitely-due-to-safety-concerns

. . .

My dear friend and the late Dr. Richard Schultz described what he went through in Montecito, just up the coast.

See https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2018/03/26/get-out-now/ ("Disasters In Montecito: Get Out Now!")

[3]  Jeb Schary, whose father Dore ran MGM; Jan Berry of "Jan and Arnie" and then "Jan and Dean," who wrote songs with the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson; the always-angry and vicious Ryan O'Neal; Craig Bruderlin (now Jim Brolin) who is married to Barbra Streisand and could not have been nicer; the lovely, down-to-earth Nancy Sinatra; Kathy Kohner "Gidget" Zuckerman who just lost everything in the LA fires; and last but by no means least, Alfredo Banos, a late friend from grade school.

[4]  Most prominent was Bob Ballard, who discovered the Titanic.

See, e.g., https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Ballard

[5]  The government of lovely San Luis Obispo is barely addressing these issues, and rationing the few homeless who will get help, which is tragic and an abomination.

Compare https://mailchi.mp/slocity/sites-approved-for-overnight-safe-parking-jan-29-2025?e=924e2a9130 with https://naegeleblog.wordpress.com/2025/01/07/homelessness-2/ ("It Is Your Destiny, Ben Carson")

[6]  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_and_secession_in_California ("Partition and secession in California")