A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

A couple turned their front yard into an artistic masterpiece.

A volcanic tunnel illuminated by natural skylights offers a shaded respite from the desert sun.

This turn of the century masterpiece has a mysterious goaty interloper.

Once strictly off-limits, this lower level housing curious and priceless vehicles of the Petersen Automotive Museum is now open to the public.

Hidden above a drug store on a nondescript corner of Lincoln Heights is a private clubhouse for intrepid explorers.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

This star-studded Old Hollywood restaurant is where fettuccine Alfredo made its United States debut.

Beautiful Victorian buildings from L.A.'s forgotten architectural past.

Secret Manor, a house full of legends, the least of which is the haunting of long-deceased ladies of pleasure.

This traditional garden in the San Fernando Valley doubled for Star Fleet Academy, and is irrigated entirely by wastewater.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

Located on 420 acres in the high desert, this spiritual center is dedicated to the "science of the future."

This unlicensed collection of fast-food memorabilia sits on the site of the first ever McDonald's restaurant.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

Ingenious bakery opens up the first Cupcake ATM at their flagship location in Beverly Hills.

A historic hotel that made a cameo in Hitchcock's classic film has no intention of letting guests forget its fame.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

The neighborhood shop is a sort of tiny cactus museum full of exotic specimens you can take home.

Nancy Thompson's Home from "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

One of the last free public hot springs is decorated with hippie art.

A common entry point to the Griffith Observatory trail holds its own wonders.