This quirky UFO-shaped curiosity is often mistaken for the airport’s control tower.

A small sculpture garden that provides a microcosmic representation of California.

This hidden fire lookout offers spectacular views of Sequoia National Park.

A water tower shaped like a giant coffee pot looms over a small Swedish village in Central California.

A relic from a forgotten bakery chain still spins atop a diner.

Rusty pieces of metal jutting out of a breakwater are all that's visible of the 12,500-ton ocean liner that capsized just off the beach.

"The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3."

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

View the California coastline (and the home of Barbara Streisand) inch by inch with stunning, government-sanctioned aerial photography.

Beautiful Victorian buildings from L.A.'s forgotten architectural past.

A beloved carnival gets a modern makeover in Los Angeles.

An unreal vintage shop that wears its dadaist influence on its zombie fish.

The southernmost point in the United States is a beautiful place to look at but a deadly place to wade in.

A beach made of semi-precious green sand on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi.

This black shoreline is made up of exploded lava particles.

One of the world's tallest Ferris wheels takes visitors high above Las Vegas in a spinning party room.

Formerly the world's largest, this Willy Wonka-esque contraption runs 24/7.

One of the first skyscrapers in Santa Monica, and a famous getaway for the Hollywood elite of then and now.

Giant origami crease patterns engraved in Santa Monica intersections may even be visible from space.

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

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

The simple auditorium that launched a pop icon's career into the stratosphere.

You don't want to get caught in this trap--or do you?

Come crisp December nights, this fairly plain neighborhood becomes a holiday dream world.