Sorry---didn't mean to omit the fact that there definitely ARE strike slip faults in both Central and So California. I think that any time someone says that there are NO somethings anywhere---they are most probably wrong.

I don't think that there's any mystery about this. California is a complex area and we still have a lot to learn about it. We have all kinds of faults, and some of them have actually switched styles since the Cretaceous. Both extension and compression regimes are seen in the Ventura Basin, for example, and often on the same faults depending upon the time involved.

Yes--I can name a lot of strike slip faults--Garlock, Inglewood, Big Pine, etc...in the area. There is no simple answer to this. I didn't really expect to explain the mystery of it all.