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

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

The famous animator's private station house and man-cave was the birthplace of imagineering.

One of the most unusual geological features, recognizable from a dozen hit movies.

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

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

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

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

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

A couple turned their front yard into an artistic masterpiece.

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.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

Rodin's famous depiction of Dante's 'Inferno', amidst a sculpture garden of many of his other works.

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.

Commonly referred to as the most photographed Victorian home in the United States.

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

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

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

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

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

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