We discovered “CG” when the Ralph’s friend, a former California State Parks ranger, mentioned it, and soon became charmed by its improbably genial, folksy host, Huell Howser.

Huell - it just seems too stiff to call him “Mr. Howser,” New York Times-style - quickly became a part of our lives, appearing so regularly in our Downtown California living room that we soon memorized the opening credits where he announced that the show was endorsed by “the California Teachers Association, the California School Boards Association and the California Library Association.” It’s a Downtown California tradition to recite this right along with Huell, doing our best to mimic his Tennessee accent.

But our love of Huell never was ironic. Much as we liked him as a presenter, we loved the way he stood back and let the people and places visited take center stage. Everything was “aMAYzing.” There were always remarkable “juxtapositions.” And frequently things “just get better and better”...unless “it doesn’t get any better than this.”

We even indulged in the California’s Gold Drinking Game - the triggers being all of the above, as well as any time Huell repeated back to a person whatever they had just said. (Local person: “So this is where the goatherders would come for dinner on Saturday nights.” Huell: “So you mean this place was filled with goatherders on Saturday night?” OK, that’s not a real example, but it gives you the idea.)

We liked to find out about places to visit from “California’s Gold” -- one memorable trek took us to the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah -- and also enjoyed watching Huell do shows on places we had already seen, such as Daffodil Hill.

Part of his charm did indeed come from the, er - juxtaposition - of his gentle, enthusiastic approach and his bodybuilder, Marine Corps physicality. And even more, we think other fans, like ourselves, could sense that all of his enthusiasm or positivity was completely genuine.

Should any of us have doubted this, on Twitter the day after Huell’s death, @jacobsoboroff wrote, “RIP Huell Howser, CA legend. He launched my career with this unplanned moment: Always wanted to be Huell 2.0.”

In Soboroff’s video, Howser -- mid-interview -- is taken completely by surprise by the young cameraman’s sudden appearance and not only does not blow his top - he incorporates Soboroff into his show. They became friends after that. Soboroff also noted in another tweet that there were already more than 300 comments @HuffpostLA.

Just a day after Huell’s death was announced, the rather unfortunately-handled “toodeadfordreaming” posted this lovely tribute video -- which caught the man’s spirit as well as anything could. There were already 129 comments and 224 “likes” on the post as of Jan. 7, the day after Huell died.

The outpouring of sadness, humor and warm memories captured in multiple forms of media served to remind us that thousands of other Californians must’ve felt much as we did - that Huell was our own special find and friend. And yet, rather than feeling jealous that others loved him too, we find it heartening that this gentle man was appreciated by so many.

We hope he knew how beloved he was. The shock that greeted the news of his death suggests that he was a private man who wanted his legacy to be the work that he did, bringing to light the many aMAYzing facets of the adopted state he loved so well.

A consummate TV professional and businessman, Huell had planned for the future, donating all episodes of his life’s work to Chapman University, as well as three houses. The university has digitized all the episodes, and has placed them online for free public viewing.