It's not impossible to have an iconic green carpet of grass in California and save a little water. It is really astounding how much water goes into maintaining residential lawns, and there are so many refreshing twists on that old tradition to try.
The images below are from projects I've worked on around the Bay Area, a no mow fescue grass at Cavallo Point, myoporum groundcover in Los Altos, and Carex pansa at a residence in San Louis Obispo County.
Another possibility with a traditional turf grass lawn is to give it a clean edge - a metal header, a dg pathway or even a concrete mowband to define a smaller lawn space and make it look a little more refined at the same time.
