Looking to distance himself from the (disgraceful?) Schwarzenegger regime via a more celebrity-free inauguration, Jerry Brown's swearing-in today as the 39th Governor of California will be an appropriately mellow affair. Today's 11 a.m. ceremony will feature minimal pomp and circumstance like free hot dogs, coffee, and a few friends and family. (Side note: thank God we no longer have to search for the correct spelling of Schwarzenegger every single day.) Unlike his previous two terms during the state's halcyon Boogie Nights-esque era, Brown will face a different California.

Among of things, the state is broke. Very broke. $28 billion broke. And, broke in other complicated ways. NPR notes: "[Brown] returns to lead a state very different from the one he last oversaw: Its finances are in a deep hole and its politics are riven with deep partisanship that has made compromise on major budget issues all but impossible."

Which is to say, fasten your seatbelts, California.

When Brown first served as Governor, he was, coming in at nubile 36, then the youngest head of the Golden State. When he's sworn-in at 11 a.m. today, he will be the oldest at a mind-boggling 72. (We highly recommend The Chronicle's then-&-now comparison piece.)

Former San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris will be sworn-in at the California Museum for History, Women & The Arts in Sacramento at 1 p.m. Why? Because she makes history as California's first woman Attorney General.

Not taking an oath today? Lieutenant governor-elect Gavin Newsom. The San Francisco Mayor, who leaves his ladder-rung mayoral gig with unquestionable hypocrisy and a spotty job performance, wants to stave off his Sacramento duties until the new Board of Supervisors selects his replacement.