I just got a reply back from a buddy that is an actual publish arachnologist and he confirms it's Zoropsidae (the false wolf spiders, and the family including the widley suggested Titiotus).
Thanks, I also thought it was a wolf or false wolf as well from some minor googling. I appreciate you reaching out to your friend for the expert opinion!
Arthropods aren't my forte, and its hard to judge without a sense of scale and/or a look at the eye layout. So someone more knowledgeable should correct me. That said, it I looks to me like a Titiotus. Various species of which call California home.
Thanks, I didn't realize how varied eye layouts were in spiders otherwise I would have tried for a better pic from another angle. Hoped the rough size estimate would be sufficent but I understand how a picture with a banana (or similar) for scale would be more helpful. Appreciate the response and it seems the crowd has spoken -- false wolf spider! (or perhaps regular wolf spider but either way is good enough for me)
Nope, easily exluded by what you can see in the pictures, by the eyes. The entire cephalothorax region is wrong for a wolf spider. I was first stuck on Gnaphosidae.
And your picture was brilliant. You won't believe the shitty pictures some people expect you to give an ID from. And you gave a proper size (though we prefere body lenght over leg span and centimetres) and a location.
This post was perfect. Even got the "oh a brown spider, must be a brown recluse" comment ...
Your size description was good, I'm just terrible at imagining sizes well. But I get why getting it to stand next to a coin or something for scale was not an option. I love spiders, but they don't take direction.
I understand it's very much a meme. But a bad one. And without any indicators that it's not a serious answer it should just be treated as a wrong answer.
When someone honestly requests and ID these kinds of jokes are also just not appropriate in general. Most people that find spiders aren't in on them.