[CompuDude]

No prob. You can do fine in a 7mm... that's what most people wear, esp. when they can't afford drysuits. It may impact repetitive diving, however... the majority of people diving wet often can't make the 4th and 5th dives (if that) of the day, due to the cumulative effect of the heat loss from diving wet in cold water. Not really an issue on a shore dive, but on a liveaboard it can be kinda sad to sit out a dive you've paid for just because you're cold.

Now that I finally splurged on my drysuit, I only dive wet during the warmest summer months, and even then mostly only for beach dives.

I highly recommend you arrange a dive with some experienced locals (such as people from the Beach Crabs group) for your first shore dive if you're not familiar with surf entries in So.Cal. I've known a lot of divers who came visiting from elsewhere in the country (Florida, Boston, etc.) who had a really hard time dealing with the surf... it's unlike anything you have to deal with back East.