On any given day this sprawling market houses literally tons of government-regulated gold, gems, and precious metals.

A preposterously luxurious hotel with gold-plated iPads, Rolls Royce chauffeurs, and a staff that trains by watching "Downton Abbey."

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.

An extraordinary "City of Caves" carved from solid stone.

World's most expensive home.

Devoted Buddhists can earn enlightenment in the next life by crawling through this symbolic nostril.

This massive wooden building contains a giant Buddha, healing pillars, and tame deer wandering the grounds.

A moss-covered statue of a Japanese Buddhist deity stands at a quiet temple in downtown Osaka.

Surreal giant face-pillars welcome visitors from across the globe to this hotel.

JFK's assassin rented a room in the boarding house in the weeks leading up to the 1963 shooting.

A symbol of Texas pride.

This downtown Dallas art installation is always on the lookout.

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

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

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

After starting as a whimsical tourist attraction that eventually found its way to ruin, these renovated canals offer a lush and exotic locale on the Pacific Coast.

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

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

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

This jagged colossus of a building is mostly held together by an enormous concrete exoskeleton.

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

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

Non-profit time travel mart sells goods you would need for a trip through the fourth dimension.