It's mostly dead, but it's focused on the Bay Area.   This forum is separate from the "ads" forums.  For ads, San Francisco and San Jose have separate forums.

 
With regard to legality, it's not legal in California.  In the Bay Area, there are *many* locals so I suggest perusing the "Top 100" San Francisco providers list as well as reviews of ladies in the area.

 
As for the risk of any given provider being a "trap", that's possibly where the reviews come in.  I know scam artists can be found through "warning" reviews that are posted, but that's not necessarily absolute.  On the flip side, those with consistent "good" or "great" reviews tend not to be "trap baits" or anything (at least not in my experience).

Welcome to the Bay Area!  

I've reached the same conclusion .. Mexico will always have a pull, but it's now a wash in terms of l'amor.
If you're fluent in Spanish, have the spare time and money, head to Columbia.

But for basic maintenance, it's hard to beat the C/K/J orgs that are a short drive from your crib, provide a stress free experience - they invest serious money and effort to make sure both punters and girls are safe.

Like Starbucks and McD's, the orgs put a lot of effort into building their brand of Quality, Cleanliness, Service and Value.

90% of the reviews on TER in the SM/SJ área are about the top 30 K-gals at the six big orgs, so you'll literally have 200+ data points about a provider before you walk through the door.

You'll have to invest some time building a rep as a serious punter -- and the higher end K-orgs will want to know your real-world identity. But once you're in, the orgs all network with each other, you'll be able to skip all the verification BS that many PD ladies insist on.

Jack pay for a VIP TER membership.

Read the reviews. Keep in mind YMMV. Do your homework to verify a provider is legit. Also, cross verify reviewers it’s okay to reach out via pm here to direct message other members to assure reviews are real. Guys do it all the time that’s what the community is for sharing. Best of luck!