A world-class observatory in the California desert.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

Megachurch turned Catholic church comprised of 10,000 glass panes.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

Lucha Libre (Mexican Wrestling) themed taco shop.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

An extraordinarily ornate museum in San Diego holds wondrous anthropological treasures.

An inconspicuous footbridge beloved by San Diego locals.

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.

The final resting place of a space program monolith, soon to be unveiled again to the public.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

Costumed elves and mountain bikers co-exist peacefully at this abandoned Christmas-themed adventure park.

Abandoned bridge hidden deep in the San Gabriel Mountains.

Stripes of flowers bloom each spring in a 50 acre rainbow of color.

This abandoned Navy base was transformed into an off-grid alternative living community for thousands of people.

The ghost town that ended up on Ebay.

The "world's biggest dinosaur" once housed a creationist museum in its abdomen.

A Swedenborgian glass church surrounded by redwoods sits perched atop a massive landslide area.

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

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

World-famous, Pink's still manages to keep its prized cult fetish status.

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