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Sceloporus magister
This was a young lizard in the process of shedding its skin.
Walled backyard.
Joshua, I was visiting friends during that extremely hot week when it reached 117F.
Sorry for taking so long to acknowledge your suggestions. I have been out of town for several weeks.
You can contact CaliforniaHerps and they can also help with the ID. They do also other states on the west.
This is a young one so it does not have the black collar. But since I don't see any sightings of the Yello-backed I would still say Desert Spiny
Other suggestion is Yellow-backed Spiny Lizard - Sceloporus uniformishttp://www.californiaherps.com/lizards/pages/s.uniformis.html
because of the yellow tail and head.