I don't fly for Mesa, but have several friends who do. I believe they still have about 50 or so pilots still on furlough, with the majority of the recalls going to the Beech 1900. I would guess the rest of the furloughed pilots will be recalled sometime in the next few months, but again, that's just a guess. Mesa seems to be doing pretty well. No hiring plans for anytime in the near future, but that could always change.
As Wiggums said, commuting from Long Beach to Phoenix would be a breeze since you'd have 10-15 flights to choose from between SWA and America West. Unfortunately most new hires tend to get an east coast pilot base (CLT, DCA, PHL, etc) as a base, and not Phoenix.