California went from being a land of endless opportunity to a state of bankrupt leftist ideology.

I first set foot in California in 1966, when I drove down from Reed College in Portland, Ore. I had spent the summer studying on a National Science Foundation grant. Laura Huxley, the widow of my literary and philosophical hero Aldous, had agreed to see me to discuss a film project based on his unpublished screenplays.

Having read “After Many a Summer Dies the Swan,” set around a swimming pool in a mansion near Mulholland Drive, I was intent on seeing LA’s iconic roadway, its almost mystical views of the city and its opulent, surreal landscape.

LA eventually became my second home — even though I found it too obsessed with health fads, spiritual gurus, artificiality, and the endless quest for immortality.

Which leads us directly to Gavin Newsom.

The unique atmosphere of California has produced a candidate for the presidency who is both the reality and symbolic representation of Hollywood and America’s bizarre worship of youth, looks, and glamour.

His movie-star persona, combined with the quickness of an old-school Irish judge from San Francisco, make him a candidate difficult to dismiss — despite his colossal........

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