L. Frank Baum wrote part of the "Wizard of Oz" series in this wooden Victorian beach resort.

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

The California capital city once stood 10 feet lower than it does today.

Outposts of this restaurant chain were shaped like jaunty chapeaus.

There are lots of hands and feet stamped in the cement in front of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, but Mel left behind something extra.

Finally the worlds of UFO enthusiasts and beef jerky lovers have come together in this roadside shop.

Hollywood's oldest hotel is the site of the first Academy Awards, the birthplace of Marilyn Monroe's career, and the home of Montgomery Clift's ghost.

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

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

One of the few remaining carousels built by master amusement park carver Charles I.D. Looff.

Coastal dunes, site of buried Egyptian movie set and former utopian colony.

Ancient human, animal, and geometric figures drawn in the earth.

This old mining town, deep in the California desert, has a year-round population of one.

A world-class observatory in the California desert.

The liveliest ghost town in the state.

A couple turned their front yard into an artistic masterpiece.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

A multimedia experience that chronicles the atrocities of racism.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

The abandoned personal amusement park of the King of Pop.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

San Diego's most historic and haunted home.

An extraordinarily ornate museum in San Diego holds wondrous anthropological treasures.