Places kitschgirl Wants to Go

A once popular resort—said to be the vacation spot of gangster Al Capone—now remains abandoned in the woods of Arizona.

In this small Phoenix taxidermy emporium, you can find everything from a squid in a jar to a freeze-dried toad.

L.A.'s oldest operating bowling alley is a beautifully restored homage to its speakeasy days.

Thousands of Mexican Free-Tailed Bats soar around an abandoned storm drain at sunset each summer.

A giant mascot, a car bomb, and the mafia mingle in the history of a defunct restaurant chain.

Once the product of an inexplicable gold strike, this ghost town is now home to one man and his love of classic machines.

This 1930s log cabin began as a taxidermy museum but is now a popular country music venue.

A replica of the flagpole that gave a frontier town its name.

The wreckage of a deadly bomber plane crash can still be found near an Arizona peak.

A pair of giant roadside arrows are all that remains of a former Route 66 trading post.

A mysterious spirit totem at the edge of Navajo lands.

A 1930’s courtroom where John Dillinger and his gang went before a judge.

Dozens of lights dangle from the branches of what may be the brightest tree in Los Angeles.

A master of deception, Harry Houdini's greatest trick may have been living in two places at once.

This abandoned horse racing track was an exercise in hubris from its inception.

A historic jail preserves etchings from over a century of incarcerated people in a town with a rough and tumble past.

The lobby of this hotel near the U.S.-Mexico border features a stained-glass mural that measures 42 feet long and 6 feet tall.

The damming of the Colorado River buried an iconic geologic formation before record-breaking drought brought it back.

More than 25 fully functional scale replicas of famous lighthouses dot the shores of Lake Havasu.

A tribute to the statues of Easter Island along Route 66.

An amazing collection of model trains, collectibles, and artifacts that span the last 100 years.

This huge dam across the Colorado River caused an armed standoff between two U.S. states.

Hidden on a cattle ranch in Arizona, this bookstore has been celebrating Southwest literature for more than 40 years.

The biggest solar telescope in the world helps reveal the secrets of our sun.