Southern California??? Is that La Jolla, Mt Baldy, or Heber? It has to be one of those places because those are the only places in SoCal. Seriously there are far too many micro climates in the region to give solid suggestions. Can you please home in on a location? And saying, "Los Angeles," or "San Diego," is almost as bad. Those are small geographical locations, but people who live in El Monte or El Cajon insist on claiming the more general title. We're not coming over for dinner, so be somewhat specific.

I'm going to suggest it could be St Augustine, centipede, or kikuyu grass. Due to the extreme coarseness I'm leaning toward kikuyu. There's a lot of it all over SoCal. St Aug will grow in almost any soil. Centipede practically insists on acidic soil. Kikuyu will grow anywhere, also, but it is much, much more aggressive than St Augustine. Here is a picture of centipede (on top) and St Augustine. Note that centipede has pointed tips on the blades while St Aug has blunt tips.

Here is a picture of kikuyu growing over a road.

Thanks, I hadn't heard of kikuyu, but the description fits pretty will. I live in Mission Viejo in Orange County, and I see this stuff around a lot.

Take a long piece to Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar for verification.

That's a great idea, thanks.