The haunting ruins of Jack London's dream house.

A bit of retro transportation flair preserved in the world's largest department store.

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

Earth's tallest volcano is sacred to Native Hawaiians, and home to a dozen world-class observatories.

The land is home to swimming ponies and a legendary 18th-century treasure.

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

One man has installed bathtubs into the Utah desert floor to harness the powers of a natural hot spring.

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

This museum celebrating the almighty dollar lets visitors literally stand in the shadow of a million bucks.

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

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

This fast-food outlet is the only space and UFO-themed McDonalds in the world.

The 340-year-old house that inspired the classic Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

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

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

The remnants of two World's Fairs are here, complete with a 12-story globe, a mini-Manhattan, and a UFO-shaped pavilion.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

Macabre headstones carved with winged skulls, dancing skeletons, and pithy reminders of impending death.

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

A multi-storied adobe complex has been inhabited for more than a thousand years.

An earthwork sculpture built by Robert Smithson in the Great Salt Lake only reemerges during drought.

This mosaic dedicated to John Lennon was tended for years by a Beatles super-fan.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.