“It's the quality” (but probably also the drive-through donut tunnel) that has attracted diners since 1968.

A fake town founded by Western movie stars is now becoming a hip desert community.

A world-class observatory in the California desert.

This Pringle-shaped ledge makes for the perfect photo op.

One of the world's longest murals depicts the history of diversity in Los Angeles.

A pair of large white marble lions guard this stretch of the Mojave Desert, and it is utterly mysterious how they got there.

A crumbling wizard is one of the final reminders of a roadside Middle Earth.

A carousel trades in its classic horses and calliope for endangered species, native flora and fauna, and a modern soundtrack.

The beautiful 1920 Pantages Theatre remains hidden just underneath the LA Downtown Jewelry Exchange.

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

A large instrument played by the wind.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

Two men, two visionaries of Venice Beach, one little hotel that smells like cookies.

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

A grove of "candelabra redwoods" deep in California's Lost Coast.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

From Japan to Italy, this California park explores the world's cultures through their gardens.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

The site of a classic series of Laurel and Hardy pratfalls.