From your zone I'm thinking you live in LA/Orange/San Diego county.
Probably the best grass for those areas is hybrid Bermuda- needs less water, fert, and mowing than anything else. I was at UCR this last Sept for a turfgrass field day and their 'dry-down' demonstration plots were real eye-openers. They stopped watering completely on June 18th and the only plots that looked OK were all hybrid Bermuda, even the buffalograss was brown. They weren't the most beautiful plots of grass but most had 30% green and a few were better- looking than some of my neighbors. When not watered, hybrid Bermuda slows waaaaay down and doesn't need much mowing and of course no fert. For the best look a reel mower is the way to go, but some rotaries will do OK. If you don't want to go to all the trouble of establishing a hybrid Bermuda, then you can pump-up the common Bermuda with water and fert in the spring, lay it on at the highest rate the package recommends and water 2-3 times a week starting in March and make sure the mower is ready to go!!