A Buddhist retreat built on more than 100 acres of California Redwood forest.

At this California chicken ranch, four bucks will get you 18 eggs and a chorus of dancing animatronic poultry.

It's not your typical library, memorial, or book store.

Traditional, pre-Hispanic food is served alongside classic favorites in this family-owned Mexican restaurant.

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

Hopeless romantics will swoon over the sweet story behind this bright and colorful home.

This cabin from the 1850s is one of the first structures built by Chinese immigrants in California.

For almost 100 years, this site of peace and spirituality has existed on the California coast.

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.

Named for a self-taught botanist who cataloged hundreds of native plants, this garden continues her work of preserving California plant life.

A 1920s home transformed into an immersive art experience, where every room is a portal to another realm.

Tenacious mummies survived dental problems, eternal entombment, and more than their fair share of devastating fires.

The oldest U.S. Government building in California, and it's State Historic Landmark #1.

The first safe in this California town had to hold all the gold.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

The oldest continuously operating church in California.

A tree grown from astronaut seeds which were exposed to cosmic rays.

This sculpture was made out of recycled guns that were turned in to the city.

Frank Lloyd Wright built this suburban synagogue late in life, but it stands among his most iconic masterpieces.

The Ryerss mansion in Burholme Park now houses a community library and a museum filled with a trove of oddities from around the world.

This meticulously extracted nervous system allegedly came from a 19th-century custodian who donated her body to science.

Philadelphia boasts one of the best — and most often overlooked — traditional Japanese gardens in North America.

One artist's love letter to his city and its citizens plays out across dozens of bright murals painted on the sides of decrepit buildings.