California was always a part of Mexico.
I've sworn off these debates after the Night of the Long Knives at THR but let me just say, no, it wasn't. What made California exemplary in my lifetime had nothing to do with Mexico or Mexicans. Dream on.
I'd always thought that California was rather much a sleepy place with some missions up until some people found some stuff in a stream near Sutter's Mill, and all the Americans and Europeans started descending upon the state to mine, to sell stuff to miners, and to build the infrastructure for miners?
And by 1870, it was the tenth largest city in the nation, with bankers, merchants, and entertainment venues, hotels, restaurants, parks, churches, synagogues, schools, libraries...all from the east coast...not from Mexico. 1873, cable car system. Mexico City, in all that time, as California's cities were being built, was still mostly squalor and desperate poverty.
The rise of Silicon Valley in the 70's and 80's didn't seem to have anything to do with Mexico, either.
Honestly, now, watching Blade Runner, the world there looks optimistic. LA with illicit street biotechnology vendors and other high-tech things? Now, it's more likely to become a dysfunctional, dirty New Tijuana instead.
