“Invented in Key West, Perfected in Brooklyn."

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

This little museum in the town where zombies were born celebrates the living dead.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

The so-called "Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles" is on a one mutant mission to keep L.A. weird.

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

The hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot is now a museum dedicated to his work.

Friction between grains of sand cause a curious "singing" sound.

No one really knows how these old hobby horses got here, but the herd keeps growing.

Life-sized sculpture of a blue whale made of hand-recycled plastic trash.

A science teacher's dream.

This little-known collection holds everything from "Dracula" notes, to the manuscript of "Ulysses," to the forged works of Shakespeare.

Enjoy a slice while browsing the world's largest collection of pizza memorabilia.

Dig for your own trilobites in this goldmine of invertebrates.

You'll need cowboy boots to trek to this old-fashioned saloon nestled in a giant natural cave.

The first and only carousel with a lineup entirely of insects.

Only known mainland rookery of the threatened Stellar sea lion.

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

Half of a waterfall goes into the river while the other half seems to disappear.

World's oldest operating science fiction and fantasy club, once home to Ray Bradbury and L. Ron Hubbard.

A picture-perfect town, perfect for blowing up.

The "Fun Spot of the Desert" is now a haunting ruin, and a reminder that putting a water park in a desert is a bad idea.

Yale University's home for rare works, including the mysterious Voynich Manuscript.

The fading, forgotten remains of a once bright and booming factory.