Chevron maintains one “Standard” brand station per state so it doesn’t lose the trademark.

A mesmerizing disco ball-like sculpture along the Sacramento River Walk.

Santa Monica's oldest restaurant, decorated with set pieces from the Mutiny on the Bounty.

In the days before HD projectors and IMAX, some of the most powerful projectors belonged to planetariums.

A bright California graveyard with a decidedly dark side.

The world's most famous donkey lives in this pen.

A humble garage, world-famous for being the epicenter of a technology revolution.

'Cause the fence start shaking, the earth was quaking.

The final resting place of the Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

The only parking meter in the entire town, it is surrounded by 100 free spaces.

Known as the "Hobbit Houses," these storybook homes look like they're straight out of the Shire.

The Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside contains two trees of each of the 1,000+ varieties of citrus.

Get fishing gear and craft beer at this restaurant on the pier.

A huge collection of rocks, gems, and crystals.

Noble beasts perhaps, but not the Emperor's dogs.

San Francisco's first World's Fair, dedicated to the wonders of California.

Housed in a memorial lighthouse, this museum relays the history of surfing, beginning with the antics of royal Hawaiian teenagers.

These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.

A historic hotel in an old California railroad town with a rowdy reputation.

Cows on a ranch are commonplace, scattered cow bones everywhere? Not so much.

Explore the wide world of desert plants at this unique Palm Springs botanical garden.

This mysterious series of teeny guerrilla installations sheds a whimsical light on street art in Oakland.

27-room home built with the fortune of a sugar magnate.

Eat a tasty meal in the house where John Steinbeck was born.