I'm wondering if there are any experienced Blender 3D users in Southern California on these forums? Trying to get started and looking for a user group, club or even live class but haven't found one in my area yet.

You could start searching from blenderartists.org too, the community there is pretty nice .

well I do online tutoring of blender, and I will actually be moving to Sacramento in about a month, if your actually bent on getting a live tutor/class.