mofo, Austin was invaded - at several different points..

if anything we see the dynamic as when a town becomes fiercely libertarian.. we get more harmony but harmony sends the further right leaning folks to smaller communities on the outskirts while lefties are drawn to the city... to overthrow the old guard and bastardize the region

CA had it's pockets but mostly it had it's haters from the outside, the north attracted californian blue collar types from the midwest that became most of the tweakers in the back hills.. or just think any place in oregon if you venture off the main central highway

just like all the previouosly keep weird cities and well, generally nice communities get invaded by techies, hipsters and various other rebels without a clue that head west looking for a gold rush..

the fundamental change happens at the edge or start of a economic boom, which is usually preceded by a cultural shift aka the youngin's get their short and curlies and ritualistically try sacrifice their siblings or out of wedlock parents to their new g-ds.. which had usually been dictated by whatever lovecraftian horror was created in children's programming.. but for recent history, it was the marxist elmo that fired off the first wave of transforming edutainment television from learning about basic skills and the people in the neighborhood, to being a self absorbed twat learning about empathy and being sheltered from world events like 9/11.

anyway, so the burnouts arrive with whatever cultural revolution that has been had... and while most go back, the core group of wannabes, the good religious girls that gone bad and well, typically every incel you've ever known rather than returning to their parents disappointment stay...

the locals having experienced harmony for some time, share what they have to spare.. the burnouts begin to gather disposable income and rather than saving for a rainy day.. still spend like they're living at a three day festival

which creates a temporary boom,

the real corruption begins with the city's elected leaders that neither the harmony nor the burnouts can name begin using the surplus to build, to sprawl.. uncontrollably.. with the logic if you build it, they will come... and come do they.. to where soon the elected officials forget the years of harmony as most are transplants themselves, anyway, or have moved far outside the jurisdiction in which they serve.. faceless administrators, like the grand many, that have infested the schools and corporations... the dreaded middle management.. awkwardly try to attract these new boomers as they set explosive traps all over the county... various convenience marts, fast food and strip malls.. driving most of the family and independent stores out, as only the new boom are willing to pay the spiking price for rent, permits and licenses

the great boom then attracts others that seek to overthrow the balance -- some, frequently further right are moved there against their will but it's do or a die.. they've always heard about these heathen towns and taught it was the fall of rome... so, they come and soon takeover the churches, temples, the last refuges of harmony.. denying a local right exists at all, their goal is not to build up but to tear down all which they view as idoltry to establish their own faith and politics in the land as all they can see is their cousins that had arrived on the scene earlier.

to which both fight it out in the streets, benefitting from the boons until the boom finally reaches it's great bang... having decimated local life, the surviving mutants build anew as its leaders promises a new soylent deal

Austin has held the reputation of being weird, of attracting misfits, burnouts, and wannabes from all sides but inevitably gets taken over by spring breakers that displace the townies.. much like what happened with Corpus Christie or College Station for obvious reasons.. usually attracting those that thought a weekend in Tijuana was too ritzy.

the real hell in Texas is what happened to Houston.. particularly that within the inner loop. The outer is a bit more divided, divided as it should be with it's own politics and enclaves. . . but the inner gained too much state power and was risen to a national spotlight like Dallas used to be.

but that is more the tale of the loss of right/left moderates...

for CA, LA/Hollywood/SF occupied a different time/space.. while much of it's controlling interest was held in Orange and San Diego county respectively..

Orange was defeated by teen dramas and reality series... San Diego by the border, more so the growing political wave in the late 90s, many which would say was Soros led with the first mainstream break of 'progressive' politics and removing the various ethnic divides which kept protests smaller... for colours instead with the brown 'pride' movement that swept through the region, culminating in massive protests, walkouts, riots and proto 'occupy' like movements.. far bigger than any previous riots had been. Which became a mainstay from about '97 on.. while the north - well, the meth problem and in turn asset forfeiture was killing the industries of natural resource and agriculture.. and the tech giants started moving in -- changing the face of not only CA as a whole but corporate business...

while the political scene.. you need to examine the history of Pete Wilson... though, his biggest battles were on the international stage and by the growing powers of actors wheras before it had once been the studios and directors (a side distraction would have you look at the actors' guild election between rhoda and laura ingles... the long fabled 'conservacuck' melissa gilbert, whose reign ushered in a radical change to hollywood's landscape for all the worst) but he suffered largely at the hands of the hollywood machine.. and of course, racial tensions that made it to the international stage..

Gray Davis is the most comparible to Gavin Newsom - neither one should have won but they represent the shift in a cultural and economic boom/bust

schwarzenegger... which was stable at the start but fell apart when his personal life began to unravel and spilled into policies. Still, it was a good time to live on the hill as long as you ignored the surrounding city.

in truth, all of them would have been better off if we had traded the heartland for greenland instead.