🚀 go-pugleaf

>I'm looking for a reasonably priced and reliable place to put a personal
>website, with shell access and the ability to use C or Perl to write CGIs,
>etc. Local is better, both to make it "net close" and for better customer
>service.

FWIW, although you reside in SoCal, your ISP doesn't have to be
anywhere local.  As an LA resident, and a premium ISP (read, too
expensive for personal pages!), when people want a cheap space, I
point to Homecom, which is actually in Atlanta, I think.  I found them
from an Internet magazine and learned that they had reasonable
pricing, good support, and most importantly, flexibility for the
things you seek.  I do a site for an indy record label that is hosted
there, and we got stuff like RealAudio for next to nothing.  They have
CGI scripts that work well, and you can get your own if they "pass
muster" with their tech people (ie., they're well-behaved).  Try
http://www.homecom.com.