The reason California gas is that high is that it isn't gas. It is an environmentalists' concoction, CAL-EPA I believe, some of which is polluting California water. But my nostril test tells me air is a little worse at the Los Angeles airport relative to the San Antonio airport. Most of that, I submit, is the soup bowl effect around Los Angeles though. San Diego air is about the same as San Antonio.
Gas prices are roughly the same north and south.
Here, as elsewhere, there are more of them. He was a one-man operation plus one employee. He was dealing with them more than customers. He went from a low overhead operation to a overhead-only operation. His government told him he didn't measure up.