Explore 47 California Collections - Atlas Obscura
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Decoy’s wines reflect the terroir of California.
wine

How a Wooden Duck Migrated From the California Wetlands to a Wine Label

The history behind Decoy’s iconic duck is rooted in craftsmanship.
The Brocken spectre phenomenon, when a human's shadow seems enormous and far away, is the likely explanation for numerous sightings of so-called dark watchers in California's Santa Lucia Mountains.
mountains

Have You Seen a Dark Watcher?

Cryptic characters lurk in California's mountains. Or maybe it's just the weather.
Roxanne Hoorn May 2, 2024
Original artwork depicting the The Flower Fields in Carlsbad, CA.
nature

Share Your Art to Win a Dream Trip to California

We’re calling all kids—and families—to paint a picture of their California Dream.
List

California Dream: Art Show Inspiration

Wondrous places in California to awaken your inner artist.
Cahuenga Building
Los Angeles, California

Cahuenga Building

This bank is widely believed to be the inspiration for the offices of Philip Marlowe, the hardboiled detective featured in a number of Raymond Chandler's stories.
San Diego, California

Yiddishland California

The Yiddish language stages a renaissance in a shtetl-inspired cultural center on the San Diego coast.
Western Pacific Railroad Museum
List

9 Marvelous Museums in California for the Curious Kid

The museums of the Golden State are where learning is effortless and ‘interactive’ is an understatement.
Battery Point Light at high tide
Crescent City, California

Battery Point Light

This 19th-century museum inside of a lighthouse is only accessible during low tide.
Video

A Phoenix Made From 18,000 Keys Rises From the Ashes of a Wildfire

10:22
Cerro Gordo by night.
quarantine

How to Quarantine in a Ghost Town

Cerro Gordo has been abandoned since 1957. Now one man is social distancing there by himself.
Matthew Taub April 29, 2020
Diego Rivera's "The Allegory of California" mural
San Francisco, California

'The Allegory of California'

The first fresco Diego Rivera painted in the United States can be found in the former San Francisco Stock Exchange.
Sacramento, California

Corti Brothers Grocery

The last of a gourmet supermarket chain, this store helped spark California's Food Revolution.
San Bernardino, California

Mitla Cafe

The Route 66 institution that inspired Taco Bell also served as an important headquarters for Mexican-American social movements.
Permanently Closed
San Francisco, California

Benkyodo

This Japanese treats shop may have been the first business to mass-produce fortune cookies in the United States.
The whimsical cypress in better days.
trees

The Cypress That May Have Inspired Dr. Seuss's 'The Lorax' Has Toppled Down

Now there's nothing left of its whimsical crown.
Evan Nicole Brown June 17, 2019
Just chillin' on a camel, sharing a shake, at the 1958 Indio date festival.
deserts

Before the Music Festival, Coachella Valley Promoted Itself With an Arabian Fantasy

Celebrating the local date industry involved a Queen Scheherazade beauty pageant, vendors in veils, and a Taj Mahal.
Rohini Chaki April 16, 2019
Wildflowers are beginning to poke through in areas impacted by the Woolsey Fire.
fires

Last Year’s Severe Wildfires May Intensify a Spring Wildflower ‘Superbloom’

Fire followed by rain is the recipe for colorful fields and canyons.
Evan Nicole Brown February 7, 2019
The elevator towers over the streets and garages below it.
Los Angeles, California

High Tower Elevator

Instead of hoofing it up steep stairs, residents can hitch a ride on this private lift.