I'll tell you exactly what changed.
They allowed NY style banking into Cali in the mid 1980's. Once the parasites got a foothold, it was over.
In the mid 1980's, you could walk into a gun store and walk out with it.
Propositions are the worst thing to ever befall a state. It bypasses normal procedures of government, so that the hoards of stupid immigrants that pour into here by the millions can vote on propositions. This is how the state became the nightmare that it is.