To me, the large subapical bar near the front of the forewing is WHITE!!!

What do you see that makes you think they are West Coast?

If you look at the second photo (top side) the subapical bar is orange (underside doesn't count). Also, the diagonal orange band that crosses the front wing (compare to a Red Admiral's red band to see where it is) is divided in the middle by a blackish line that connects across it (you can see this on yours on top). In V. cardui it is not divided.

Mostly you can see the underside in these photos though. The black line across the outer end of the discal cell of the forwing is solid in V. anabella, not broken into two offset triangles. The forwings are truncated at the tip instead of narrowly rounded (making for a sharp angle a few veins down from the tip). The eye spots under the hind wing are a bit heart-shaped, which is more likely in V. annabella, and the middle two are almost solid blue and are about the same size as the other two. In V. cardui the middle two are usually noticeable smaller than the other two, and most often are ringed with some blue inside (like the one below them) and not solid blue. I'm not counting the little fifth spot at the upper end of the row, which barely makes it as an eye spot in either species. There are lots of other little details if you look really closely at the patterns.

Well, I had to rotate some of my other images of them and refer to

to see the underside markings but I think I understand all your points.
My main mistake was to think I was seeing the topside orange part with a white bar when I was seeing the underside.