Personally, when I first heard Pete Dye was building a course on the cliffs of Palos Verdes, I was ecstatic. Probably the most excited I've been prior to a course opening. Then it all went haywire, with a hole sliding down the hill, etc. But if you're asking what project personally got me as a Californian most excited, that was it.
"Exciting" is an interesting word choice for the question. I love Rustic, but it feels more subtly wonderful to me than "exciting." I'd probably go with PGA West Stadium. If not for that island green or the San Andreas bunker, me as a 16 year old with a passing interest in golf wouldn't have been glued to the Skins game on TV every year.