It wasn't "Safe R" at any point after 1960 when JFK initially won the state, with the exceptions of 1980 and the two landslides (where the state was actually to the left of the nation just ftr)
But the answer is that Bush tried to make inroads, and failed.
California went Republican every year from 1952-1988 except for the LBJ '64 landslide.
California was more red in 1984 than Texas was in 2012.
What part of "with the exceptions of 1980 and the two landslides do you not understand"?
Discounting those, California never went R by more than 4 points. It's little different from Wisconsin's D Lean that only gave out this time because Hillary failed to visit....that and the Cheesehead Mafia working overtime.
You did make a mistake in saying that California went to JFK in 1960...it didn't. Other than that, your general idea is much more correct.
