I pronounce them differently, and I grew up on the West coast, too. California, in my case. Did you grow up in Warshington?

Anything to do with ‘r’s is a bit contentious. Like America still uses ‘r’s how they’re written.

Now the British are like “Goodness me, you still pronounce the ‘r’ in cah and fah? How uncouth, we’ve moved those pesky ‘r’s to other words ages ago”.

“Moved to where?”

“Any word ending in the lettah ‘a’ I suppose.”

I pronounce them the same. Grew up on the east coast.