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

The tangled roots of a giant banyan tree have fully reclaimed the ruins of this abandoned warehouse.

An out-of-place slice of France, smack in the middle of Shanghai.

A colorful architectural gem in Seattle’s uniquely modern Central Library.

After a profound show of devotion for his master, a dog becomes the symbol of loyalty for an entire nation.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

Once a black market electronics marketplace, now an otaku shopper's paradise.

A decaying concrete oil tanker served as a disposal location for bootleg hootch.

This psychedelic tourist trap is a leisurely descent into madness.

This ratty natural history collection is a charming relic among a city rushing into modernity.

A giant scale model giving a sneak peek at what urban planners see for Shanghai by 2020.

Memorial to the father of the Republic of China.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

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

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

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.

A sudden forest of traditional Papua New Guinean art works is hidden in a corner of Stanford University.

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

High on a hill overlooking Los Angeles lives a world famous, high-power conical Tesla Coil.