There is no doubt that California is the best known of the states world wide. It's big and bright and flashy and frankly an amazing place.
With that said, I am happy to live in Arizona. I go to California regularly (It's only 20 miles) but prefer to live here.
It sort of surprises me that you would pick California as the cradle of the Hispanic community. The 2020 census will probably show that Hispanics are the majority in Arizona. It seems to me (and this is solely my opinion) that we just live together in Arizona with out all the headlines. Most of the time.
Thanks for a wonderful comment Nancy. Always appreciated!