Places marksuz Wants to Go

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

This temple, built by an eccentric religious leader before his death, sits guarded and in ruins.

About 80% of all U.S. avocados are descendants of Rudolph Hass's glorious tree.

Huge otherworldly domed rocks on the shore of a deadly lake.

An art supply shop holds the secrets of this quiet neighborhood's raucous Barbary Coast past.

This (occupied) house is 10 feet wide and full of spite.

A B&B on a Victorian lighthouse station in San Francisco Bay.

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

This abandoned boat was left in place thanks to its rotting beauty.

The largest Star Wars collection in the world is its own galaxy of collectibles.

Secret US military film studio in the Hollywood Hills.

This stockpile of junked electronic and mechanical gadgets is a favorite among Hollywood prop masters.

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 deserted hodgepodge of experimental structures designed by nearby university students.

An optical illusion found amid a logged redwood forest.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

A regular looking rock with an unbelievable history.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

Hidden above a drug store on a nondescript corner of Lincoln Heights is a private clubhouse for intrepid explorers.

San Francisco Bay's ghost town.

This naturally heated mountainous creek has created a group of neon blue pools of potentially deadly boiling water.

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

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