Places userbrent Wants to Go

West African flavors shine at this unassuming strip mall spot in southwest Houston.

Its collection is a sweet reminder of the shuttered factory.

An unrealized Taoist palace left abandoned in a Houston suburb.

A spur fit for a giant sits just off Highway 281 in Texas.

Victims of the Webster Massacre are buried here in a mass grave.

An enormous pink granite batholith, long attributed with spiritual powers by the Tonkawa Indians.

This underwater old Texas hill town only resurfaces during harsh drought.

Human remains in varying states of decay are strewn about this Texas State facility for scientific study.

In the fictional world of Kcymaerxthaere, this was the former home of the Marshal of Gravity and the site of his tragic death.

Joseph and Victor Stanzel were Texas farm boys who built a model aircraft empire.

An entire home filled with over 3,000 pieces of Santa memorabilia in glass cases, walls, on Christmas trees, and even in the bathroom.

A medieval castle in the middle of rural Texas.

Scale replica of China's ancient terracotta tomb warriors and Forbidden City are the side project of an eccentric millionaire.

Panorama exhibition hall in old silent theater with a beautiful backyard garden.

Two men, two visionaries of Venice Beach, one little hotel that smells like cookies.

The largest collection of two headed animals in the world.

The real faces of Venice beach captured on Romanesque columns.

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.

Founded by a high school teacher, this poetry magazine became a center for all things literary.

Perched high atop telephone poles is an uncanny outdoor art gallery that greets passersby on their commute.

Rainbow-hued local gem in Venice.

A ghost town at the airport is now a refuge for blue butterflies.

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

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