>> As far back as the 1970s, Colorado was known for its home-grown, crunchy granola, eco-friendly hippies.
Yep, and those home grown crunchy granola types repelled a concerted effort to host the ‘76 Winter Olympics in Colorado. I remember first seeing the pithy meme “Don’t Californicate Colorado” on a bumper sticker during that time.
Sadly, Colorado has by now been thoroughly Californicated.
At the same time similar sentiments were expressed by the people of Washington and Oregon. California metastasized to those formerly magnificent states as well