The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 7 letter word ANAHEIM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
N
A
H
E
I
M
More clues leading to the result ANAHEIM
- Anecdotes by this fellow full of energy in Californian city
- An aspiration to entertain ambassador in Californian city
- An aspiration to keep ambassador in Californian city
- A new thing said to garner attention around international entertainment venue
- This Californian city with courts would be South American
- An object enthralling male in a Disney location
- One point about that guy’s Disneyland locale
- Cabana he imagined taking in California city
Buddy explains!

The straight part
We know that "Californian city" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case californian city = anaheim.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.