The Los Angeles flood disaster that took 400 lives and ended the career of William Mulholland.

This midcentury LA bar was the birthplace of tiki culture.

Abandoned anti-ballistic missile base.

This museum honors the first Spanish land grant in California which is still in the hands of the original owner's family.

This serene oasis in an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood holds some of Gandhi's ashes and got Elvis into Eastern Philosophy.

This former stomping grounds of the most eminent astronomers of the early 20th century.

The Mighty Wurlitzer organ continues to belt out the tunes at downtown El Segundo's historic home for silent and classic movies.

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

This California estate was either haunted by ghosts or the Marx brothers.

Pasadena glamour turned government issue.

Victoriana on Orange Grove Avenue.

A faux European lane smack dab in downtown L.A.

The programmatic glory of LA's giant whiskey barrel building has become an upscale reminder of the city's kitschy roadside past.

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

The taxidermied remains of the "last wild grizzly bear in California" and of the symbol of the state of California.

A brooding mansion of clinker brick stands out among the Victorian houses of Pacific Heights.

The remains of a 12th-century chapter house in Golden Gate Park.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

Semi-recognized center of the world, with many oddities.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

The oldest burial ground in the city, final resting place of city founders, Ohlone natives and murderers alike.

This elegant Colombian fortress was one of the torture headquarters for the Spanish Inquisition.