This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

An ominous concrete cube cuts a dystopian silhouette atop this California mountain.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

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

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

A classically inspired temple in Redwood City.

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

One of the largest free-standing structures ever built, this dirigible hangar is now simply a giant skeleton.

This odd California folly seems like it was almost designed to accumulate urban legends.

The graffiti-covered remnants of a former triangulation station are balanced precariously on this California peak.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

A vast city of the dead, where the deceased outnumber the living by more than a million.

A hidden world of exotic succulents and cacti.

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

Another of California's unused Cold War missile defense complexes has become a graffiti gallery.

Longtime headquarters of controversial boys' club for the world's wealthiest and most powerful.

Since 1973, this block has been home to the most concentrated collection of murals in San Francisco.

Two rocks in a perpetual kiss and one of "the most romantic spot in America."

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