Places zydeko Wants to Go

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

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

Radioactivity still cause for concern at this urban explorer's paradise.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

Collective dedicated to restoring steam engines.

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

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

A creepy steel gremlin has protected the Bay Bridge since 1989.

The most isolated mailbox in America lets desert travelers record their passing.

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

This (occupied) house is 10 feet wide and full of spite.

This infamous prison has a store where you can buy goods crafted by incarcerated people.

This corn maze so big you may want to pack a lunch, and possibly a flaregun.

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

Another of California's unused Cold War missile defense complexes has become a graffiti gallery.

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

Lemon Grove, California is known for its giant lemon...and mummified bodies.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

Bits and pieces from the ill-fated Donner Party's winter cabins.

Celebrating the transformation of trash into objects of beauty.

Abandoned anti-ballistic missile base.

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