I was born in Hollywood and grew up in an orange orchard; you can't get more Californian than that. And I lived there most of my life, domiciled at various times in northern, central, and southern CA.
I spent my career as an employee of the CA state university system, and retired there. While I no longer live in CA, I know it better than most people.
California needs high speed rail about as much as fish need bicycles. The few high density cities have public transit that works sort of, some of the time. High density development is what you need to make high speed rail work, and CA neither has nor wants it for most of its citizens.
CA is a big, roomy state and it has grown based on the automobile. Suburbs, where families like to live, are based on auto transit. Commercial air traffic between the Bay Area's three major airports and the LA area's 4-5 major airports makes passenger rail redundant.
As a nation we need to stop wasting money on high speed rail. It fits Japan, Europe and maybe China. It is useful in the Acela corridor, it doesn't fit most of the US and especially CA. This is a reality urban planners refuse to grasp.
Forcing Californians into high speed rail will be like trying to teach a pig to sing. It won't work and it irritates the pig.
