For something around 20 years, I have given the same advice to all new and would-be handgun shooters: your first handgun should be TWO handguns:

1) An appropriate handgun to satisfy the application in which you’re interested

and

2) A target style 22LR such as the Ruger Mark IV, S&W Victory, Browning Buckmark, Beretta Neos. (NOT combat/duty style 22’s like SR22 or M&P22).

If your purpose is simply target shooting and marksmanship skills development, then the target style 22LR may be all you want or need.

If you are unsure about any specific application which might be of interest, again, the target style 22LR may be all you want or need until you discover some other interesting application.

The purpose here is that a target style 22LR pistol will offer your fastest and most efficient path to develop fundamentals of handgun marksmanship, without significant hindrances of recoil, difficult triggers, high ammo or pistol cost, etc. These fundamentals built with the target style 22LR are easily transferred to any other handgun type, with only slight adaptation required for grip, manual of arms, and trigger management.

Being located in California, your options might be rather limited - I believe the Smith & Wesson 22A is on the Communist List, which would be a relatively reasonable choice.

Are you solely focused on handguns at this time, or do you also have interest in rifleshooting as well?