[6][7] According to author Larry David Smith, Mitchell uses the descriptions in "California" as a strategy to demonstrate "principles associated with the Earth Mother manifesto.

[4] According to Rolling Stone critic Timothy Crouse, the song "jumps along in quick bursts", but the refrain is "flowing" with tango elements.

[8] Crouse praised the "subtlety" of the production, particularly "James Taylor's twitchy guitar and Russ Kunkel's superb, barely detectable high-hat and bass-pedal work.

Bob Dylan played Mitchell's recording on the "California" episode of Season 2 of his Theme Time Radio Hour show in 2007.

[14] "California" is quoted in the 2014 film Wild, in which Cheryl Strayed (as played by Reese Witherspoon) writes the line "Will you take me as I am?"