Historic funicular railway, believed to be the shortest railroad in the world.

A faux European lane smack dab in downtown L.A.

A century-old hotspot for jazz, frequented by everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Al Capone.

The highest bridge in America was built for an almost unnervingly small amount of money.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

A religious-themed park filled with folk art to bring biblical stories to life that fell into disrepair and now being restored.

Mysterious 500-year-old tapestries depict a unicorn hunt.

After starting as a whimsical tourist attraction that eventually found its way to ruin, these renovated canals offer a lush and exotic locale on the Pacific Coast.

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

A Bibliophile's Dream.

One of New York's best collections of pinball is hidden in a secret bar in the back of this laundromat.

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

The largest hot spring in the United States is, as the name suggests, a stunning show of natural color.

One of only two commuter aerial tramways in the United States.

Whisper secrets in a busy station only to be heard on the other side of this acoustic arch.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

One of the oldest used bookstores in the U.S. has been selling antiquarian treasures since 1825.

Seemingly grown on some other world, these New Mexico rock formations look like a disused science fiction set.

A breathtaking array of ancient Pueblo structures and artifacts counterintuitively preserved by neglect.

A beautiful geyser under environmental threat.

A much more welcome kind of snowbird vacationer, manatees camp out in these springs every winter.

This modern antique shop is a museum for 1980's Saturday morning cartoon culture.

Tour the dark and beloved poet's former cobwebbed basement, which may have inspired "The Black Cat."

This New Orleans tree is filled with hidden chimes that produce a carefully tuned melody.