The tent cities and feces thing is very real in San Francisco and parts of LA. SF is a fucking dumpster fire in desperate need of cleanup and sane governance but those two cities aren't California and most of the minor cities and surrounding suburbs are really nice (if ludicrously expensive). In the southern part, at least. Large parts of Northern California are indistinguishable from the shitholes the Fox viewing audience call home (meth labs, militias, and morons who hate big gubmint... ya know, except when it's used to oppress people they don't like).