An iconic Soviet statue of working-class people.

One of the last remnants of the city's Chinese nightclub scene is now a dive bar selling killer mai tais.

A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

A massive volcanic plug is now a protected area that hosts a number of bird species.

A 1920s speakeasy that had rum runners racing up and down the shores of California.

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

The most beautiful Taco Bell in the world even has surfboard parking.

The peaceful gravesite of a rugged wild west gunman echoes the touching story of his last days.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

A 19th-century cabin built into a hollowed-out Sequoia tree.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

An antique store houses the last operational diner from the defunct department store chain.

Three plaques mark the spot where the "forgotten father of broadcasting" worked.

It is locally loved and ridiculed for literally looking like poop.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

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

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

The largest permanent Monopoly board makes one of the longest games even bigger.

While you're unlikely to find riches here these days, this remote mine is a time capsule of the Gold Rush era.

This is one of the last surviving structures of a once vast palace complex.

This 24-acre park offers a place for meditation in the midst of Sedona's iconic red rocks.

These structures were inspired by both Native American shelters as well as, strangely, an ice cream shop.