Places Edited by Sandi Hemmerlein

This midcentury LA bar was the birthplace of tiki culture.

Elvis's own personal tropical hideaway.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

An inconspicuous footbridge beloved by San Diego locals.

One of the most enjoyable bits of history at Coney Island and “the most romantic ride in the world.”

Once America's tallest structure, now a Baltimore landmark.

This railroad magnate's 19th century tower is more than a little bit out of place in the Nevada desert.

This sculpture garden in Death Valley makes you feel like you've slipped into some alternate reality.

This former lieutenant governor's home is brimming with curiosities.

A Tibetan Temple and Buddhist organization just off the beaten path in Northern California.

This massive crater in the middle of nowhere was used to train astronauts for moon landings.

Home to secret Eastern Bloc spy equipment and the largest stretch of the original Berlin Wall outside of Germany.

The hundreds of movies and television shows shot in this high desert town are commemorated in a unique museum.

This grand hydraulic installation has provided water for townspeople since the Middle Ages.

A gothic palace of endless stalagmites and pseudoscorpions waits within one of the world's most beautiful caves.

Humboldt's human-powered sculptures race across land and sea for days on end in a wacky quest for dominance.

Beneath a Virginia City bar is the entrance to an abandoned gold mine.

This little blue house pokes out over the campus of UC San Diego, seven stories high.

The most magnificent bottle house in a town strangely full of them.

A spiritual retreat in the heart of Los Angeles offers stunning gardens and a labyrinth to lose yourself in.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

Opened as part of the New Deal, the training facility now features World War II-era structures and a pylon that once stood at the World Trade Center.

These huge stone ovens in the desert fueled the Nevada silver boom, and may have also been a hideout for outlaws.

A herd of 150 bison live on California's Santa Catalina Island and are at the heart of an ongoing debate between environmental protection and economic expansion.