I would have gone with, splendida from Tucson.
Interesting that you're looking at these guys as their own population/ subspecies with no recent Cal influence - I'm not gonna argue that, as you've live there forever & I haven't collected there in about twenty years.
I came to a similar conclusion when I moved to the Dallas area.
They call the getula there a holbrooki x splendida intergrade (they cover a huge area of the range map, by the way).
Personally, they seem like their own ssp. to me - they exibit a color pattern similar to both, but (& I hate to say this about any getula) they are a crappy little kingsnake that doesn't compare with either a nice splendida or holbrooki. They don't get as large as either, have a different morpology, tend to be more fossorial, & have sh!tty attitudes/personalities. They are their own snake , as Frank says, & don't need us to approve, disaprove, or catagorize them.
Anyways, this seemed like a good place to put those comments...
Cheers, Max
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"I may be crazy, but ya know... I can rationalize just about anything."

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