There are a lot of options for vinyl in California and in general. The two places I would recommend out your way are RTI and Bill Smith Custom Records. Both can be found online.
Here is part one of a video on vinyl manufacturing:
http://video.google.com/url?docid=-4232942448011377111&esrc=sr3&ev=v&q=vinyl%2Bmanufacturing&srcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DxUGRRUecBik&vidurl=%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D-4232942448011377111%26q%3Dvinyl%2Bmanufacturing%26total%3D38%26start%3D0%26num%3D10%26so%3D0%26type%3Dsearch%26plindex%3D2&usg=AL29H2054-bJxXkkcP17iTeODaj5FCrTVgthis is part two:
http://video.google.com/url?docid=2384519147177180857&esrc=sr5&ev=v&q=vinyl%2Bmanufacturing&srcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DIReDh9ec_rk&vidurl=%2Fvideoplay%3Fdocid%3D2384519147177180857%26q%3Dvinyl%2Bmanufacturing%26total%3D38%26start%3D0%26num%3D10%26so%3D0%26type%3Dsearch%26plindex%3D4&usg=AL29H22XnKrroP6bYr8t7nqP39efoYDbYwIt is good to know how the process works.
Getting "quality" vinyl or thick vinyl is always nice but the most important thing is the "mastering" process or what is also referred to as the cutting process. This is where the the person cuts the laquer. The laquer is taken to a plating place (this is either at the place that will be pressing the record or in some cases the place where you have the laquer cut). Thin metal plates are made that are used to press the record. The pressing plant takes care of the labels for the record (that you provide either digitally or in some cases places want a physical copy of it in black and white and they are able to use whatever colors in the black and white areas). You will likely want to have a test press done. The test press is a test of how the plates work. There is also an option to get a reference laquer which is a test of the quality of the laquer. Most people just go with the the test press. You have to approve the test and then they press up the records. The vinyl come in the white dust sleeve at all places I have used.
It can be a confusing process and I may not have explained it as well as those videos. As far as getting your laquer cut, try y-mixx
www.ymixx.com (may be one more x). They do a good job and that is the most important part.
Aardvark Mastering is the cheapest around to do the laquer and plates. They take a bit longer since it is a hobby business but they make sure things work out in the end. I have run in to some problems using them and it really pushes things back. If you are in no rush, they would be worth using if you are looking at saving money.
As far as manufacturing goes, RTI is one of the best. They do all of those Matador 180 gram LPs. I have heard the turnaround can be slower on smaller projects but they do good work. Bill Smith does a great job too. Quality vinyl and a nice small family run business. Both of these are not cheap but they are good.
The cheapest place that most people use is United Record Pressing in Nashville, TN. They do an ok job. The quality of the vinyl is ok. The edges sometimes can be a bit rough. I have never used Pirate Press but they use this place in the Czech Republic called GZ. Southern currently uses them as well as a bunch of other labels out there. This is the one I have never used but I have heard good things and may be looking at in the future. They seem to get a lot of the really specialized colored vinyl projects.
The one that I would strongly avoid is Erika records in California. The horror stories from this place are a mile long. Living in California (its in Downey near Orange county or maybe in it), you might have a better chance at getting it done right and not waiting forever but I know enough people who have been burned and dealt with enough bs with them that I would rather avoid it.
As much as there is the temptation to go the cheap route, I would avoid it unless you really absolutely need to. I don't know if you have manufactured CDs but it is a considerably easy process compared to vinyl. Vinyl has a lot of different steps and things can easily get messed up along the way so be careful. If you need more info, send me a private message. It is definitely worth spending time to figure out the process though because the headaches from having things get messed up are awful.
