The seamy, underground secrets of Portland's criminal past.

This stoic, if derpy, giant stands as a monument to Oregon's statehood and the novelty culture of yesteryear.

World's only nuclear reactor operated by liberal arts undergraduates.

Featuring a casually threatening atmosphere along with dessert and coffee to die for.

No two pieces are exactly the same at Portland's hippo-themed hardware store.

Tiny horses tethered to antique rings are scattered around the city.

America's oldest Italian restaurant is a San Francisco institution.

Only known mainland rookery of the threatened Stellar sea lion.

This opulent hotel has been visited by Spider-Man, Charlie's Angels, and the Ghostbusters.

The legendary building that needed ghostly approval before being built.

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

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

An iconic location along the Los Angeles River where countless movie scenes are filmed.

The somber sculptures commemorating Irish Famine on the river Liffey in Dublin.

This permanent collection of preserved bodies taken from Irish bogs is one of the leading authorities on such morbid mummies.

Dublin's "Dead Zoo" serves as a window to Victorian museum design.

The gorgeous library at Trinity College is home to remarkable treasures of Irish identity.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

A hidden gem, named after a San Franciscan icon, offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

Famously misunderstood wonder of the ancient world