A faux European lane smack dab in downtown L.A.

The space-age building is home to one of the few remaining rotating restaurants in America, and the only one that inspired a 1980s sitcom.

This brightly made over hotel hides decades of suicide, serial killers, and mysterious deaths.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

Historic funicular railway, believed to be the shortest railroad in the world.

Hot Doug's "Hot Dog" Stand.

A lush green oasis in the middle of Chicago.

About 80% of all U.S. avocados are descendants of Rudolph Hass's glorious tree.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

There are lots of hands and feet stamped in the cement in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, but Mel left behind something extra.

A long-vacant Scottish Rite temple in Hollywood has been converted into an art museum filled with Masonic relics.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

Stroll the grounds built by murder, suicide, and dirty oil money at one of Hollywood's most filmed mansions.

A second generation sun-powered marvel lights up the night.

A treasure hunter's tiny bar, harboring celebrities since 1959.

An increasingly eccentric apartment building, topped with winged beasties.

In one Santa Monica parking lot a mushroom cloud made of chains heralds a message of peace.

In a city filled with Frank Gehry buildings, one stands out as one of the architect's weirder works.

A black and white mural stands out from its psychedelic surroundings.