Practice your Dirty Dancing lifts in the manmade lake where Johnny Castle himself did.

The record holder for the world’s largest peach.

The cruel trial of a 13-year-old boy inspired the creation of this now abandoned reformatory.

A Nessie-like monster supposedly lurks in this lake.

Housed in a memorial lighthouse, this museum relays the history of surfing, beginning with the antics of royal Hawaiian teenagers.

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

Elephant seals and sea lions have turned the abandoned buildings on this island into their endangered love shack.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

Inky sludge oozes to the surface of this beach thanks to a rare natural tar seep.

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.

A black and white mural stands out from its psychedelic surroundings.

Hidden away among the quiet streets of Beverly Hills, this small park is a haven for walkers and wildlife.

Honoring the famed folktale author, this California museum looks like it belongs in the Black Forest.

The sun acts as a key that only fits this giant keyhole twice a year.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

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

One man's homage to the sun continues to grow like a glass fractal.

Stroll the grounds built by murder, suicide, and dirty oil money at one of Hollywood's most filmed mansions.

Storybook cottage in Beverly Hills was once the site of 1920s silent film studio, affectionately known as "The Witch's House."

A statue based on a tragic Japanese nursery rhyme, commemorating San Diego's sisterhood with Yokohama.

An ode to the friendship between four Pacific Rim countries.

A sculpture of the famous photograph stands on San Diego's "Greatest Generation Walk."

This futuristic bridge is one of the longest self-anchored pedestrian bridges in the world.