A Looff creation in Santa Monica best described as “a California-Byzantine-Moorish-style fantasy.”

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

A second generation sun-powered marvel lights up the night.

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.

This beautiful ridge-top trail is dotted by tiny homes apparently built by a group of itinerant fairies.

Gaudí's famously flamboyant architectural style is on full display in this sprawling park and garden.

Giant eggs, walls of bread, and nightmare surreality mark the largest collection of works by Salvador Dalí.

A beautiful but toxic fountain of mercury.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

A classically inspired temple in Redwood City.

Adolph Sutro's little-known, geographically inaccurate, deprecated monument.

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

The colossal cartoon man stands outside a Nevada museum.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Las Vegas's very own 40-foot-tall fire-spewing praying mantis.

Brightly colored 30-foot-tall totems light up the desert sky just outside Las Vegas.