Places waywardwillard Wants to Go

The beautiful 1920 Pantages Theatre remains hidden just underneath the LA Downtown Jewelry Exchange.

Come crisp December nights, this fairly plain neighborhood becomes a holiday dream world.

This opulent hotel has been visited by Spider-Man, Charlie's Angels, and the Ghostbusters.

Beautiful Victorian buildings from L.A.'s forgotten architectural past.

The hotel room where Janis Joplin tragically died has now become a makeshift shrine to the singer.

A common entry point to the Griffith Observatory trail holds its own wonders.

Where the line between entertainment and aerospace blurs.

Though tiki culture has gone in and out of fashion, the Tonga Hut has always been flying the flag in Los Angeles.

One of the world's largest collections of rare and magnificent bird specimens.

The neighborhood shop is a sort of tiny cactus museum full of exotic specimens you can take home.

The site of a classic series of Laurel and Hardy pratfalls.

A little barn in the middle of the city preserving Hollywood treasures since 1985.

This star-studded Old Hollywood restaurant is where fettuccine Alfredo made its United States debut.

An increasingly eccentric apartment building, topped with winged beasties.

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

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

Los Angeles's oldest cemetery allows visitors to trace the history of this proud city.

Once strictly off-limits, this lower level housing curious and priceless vehicles of the Petersen Automotive Museum is now open to the public.

The famous animator's private station house and man-cave was the birthplace of imagineering.

This hilltop park offers magnificent views and a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece.

Nancy Thompson's Home from "A Nightmare on Elm Street."

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

The so-called "Statue of Liberty of Los Angeles" is on a one mutant mission to keep L.A. weird.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.