If you haven't checked out our Greek Garden ideabook yet, it has some great photos and examples of Mediterranean plants.
(Lavender, Rosemary, Olive Trees)

https://www.houzz.com/magazine/garden-tour-enchanting-greek-landscape-stsetivw-vs~185442

Southern California is considered to have a Mediterranean climate, so plants that would survive in places like Italy, Greece, southern France, etc. would most likely do well where you live. Monrovia is a great resource to find exactly what you can grow where you live. Just figure out your Sunset Zone, and get planting.

http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/
http://www.sunset.com/garden/climate-zones/climate-zones-intro-us-map-00400000036421/
(Sunset Zone calculator)

We are licensed landscape contractors and we would be glad to help you. You can see our projects all in the southern california climate here:

http://www.houzz.com/pro/jmsdesignassociates/jmsdesignassociates

Please let us know if there are individual plants you have questions about.

Thanks.
www.JMSDesignAssociates.com