Non-trad here, similar story but a bit further out.
I had two semesters my first time, 6 Fs and 4Ws. When I went back (to a new CC) 18 years later, I pulled a 4.0 over 80 semester units including the full math and physics sets. The old school wouldn’t let me do AR without taking units at their school, and I couldn’t manage that due to distance and the nature of the classes I was taking. So, I retook as many of the Fs as I could and just rolled the dice.
I’m starting as an Aerospace Engineering major at UCLA in a few weeks. I didn’t apply to Cal (they don’t have a BS for AE), so I can’t say how they’d approach the same issue. But most of the UCs seem to like non-trads.
Honestly, I talked to one counselor before applying who used to work at UCLA admissions. She said that “for old enough credits” they won’t even care. What’s important is your recent work. Don’t lie about anything - include it all - but in your essays and supplemental notes, explain what happened, why it didn’t work before, and what’s changed now. The EC’s aren’t an issue, especially if you’ve been working. Those are there for high school students to show that they’ve got some non-classroom interests and experiences; non-trads almost universally have that by default.