A local dialect born in the late 19th century is only spoken in this isolated California valley.

The legendary statue-hating superintendent of Golden Gate Park is honored with... a statue.

This former boomtown "island" is now submerged below Folsom Lake.

Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

This eatery transports diners to a place that no longer exists: East Germany.

A lonely Gondola stuck on a traffic circle sits in a spot where it once would have floated down the Grand Canal.

Gnomes have their very own bonsai-landscaped settlement on a university campus.

A mysterious and endangered parasitic herb from the California desert.

This centerpiece of the Hollywood & Highland shopping center is a recreation of a long-lost movie set.

Experience Larry Spring's self-taught "common sense" laws of physics.

A lighthouse built to save lives that took quite a few with its treacherous location.

This graffiti-covered bridge is the quintessential vision of a place for disillusioned youth to escape the complexities of burgeoning adulthood.

This collection of hand fans doubles as a history of femininity.

The Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside contains two trees of each of the 1,000+ varieties of citrus.

The neighborhood church casts a breast-shaped shadow that locals have come to call the “two o’clock titty.”

Where a great scandal unfolded with a famous female revivalist at its center.

Hidden in the Santa Ynez Mountains off Highway 154, this tiny restaurant once served as a stagecoach stop.

Museum dedicated to the preservation of surf culture.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

Wheels of chrome by the thousands adorn this California Historical Landmark.

At this deceptively beautiful beach, nothing is what it seems.

The best place in the park to test out your throwing arm.

The second building of its name to occupy this location might be the finest flatiron building in San Francisco.

Odd stone and concrete monuments in the "Poet of the Sierras" eclectic folly garden.