One of Hollywood’s favorite government buildings.

The simple auditorium that launched a pop icon's career into the stratosphere.

A Masterpiece with a Tragic History.

A giant donut stands as a popular symbol of Los Angeles iconography.

It should come as no surprise that the best view of the Hollywood sign is from Batman's lair.

The real faces of Venice beach captured on Romanesque columns.

An historic and oft-filmed spot for musclebound iron pumpers on the Pacific coast.

Legendary frontman of the Doors looms in this giant mural by famed Venice muralist, Rip Cronk.

From pre-war whiskey cocktails to prohibition-era speakeasy secrecy, this bar has seen it all.

In a city filled with Frank Gehry buildings, one stands out as one of the architect's weirder works.

A three-story, three-dimensional hobo clown in a tutu welcomes CVS shoppers.

Santa Monica's oldest restaurant, decorated with set pieces from the Mutiny on the Bounty.

A treasure hunter's tiny bar, harboring celebrities since 1959.

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

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

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

One of the first skyscrapers in Santa Monica, and a famous getaway for the Hollywood elite of then and now.

This traditional garden in the San Fernando Valley doubled for Star Fleet Academy, and is irrigated entirely by wastewater.

According to legend it was a nap taken under this tree that kicked off the California Gold Rush.

Large but largely ignored, these 42 life-size Liberty Bell replicas were a peculiar, unexplained feature on the facade of a Macy's department store.

An eccentric folk art landmark made out of discarded bottles by an inspired "grandma."

The abandoned personal amusement park of the King of Pop.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

Beneath a Virginia City bar is the entrance to an abandoned gold mine.