In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

An amazing example of early-20th-century architecture, this church features marble transported from Utah.

The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.

A public art jibe at one of the United States’ oldest and longest-serving senators.

A portal into the bricked up canal that runs through the heart of Washington D.C.

This seemingly out-of-place gas station by the Watergate hotel was once described as the most expensive gas station in the world.

A muscular Art Deco monument represents the struggle between regulators and unbridled markets.

An overlooked memorial honoring the local Washington residents who died in World War I.

Look closely and you’ll notice that the color changes a third of the way up the tower.

While most wind tunnels test scale models, the "Cave of Winds" was large enough for actual airplanes.

The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.

Former villa and estate of James Deering developed to preserve native tropical forests.

The only swimming pool listed on the National Register of Historic Places is emptied and refilled each day with naturally filtered water.

This forgotten boat elevator was an engineering marvel in its heyday.

Before Nixon, "watergate" meant canals.

Legend has it that President Grant’s frequent drinking in the lobby gave rise to the term “lobbyist.”

The "lovely red Vega" of the legendary record-settling pilot.

A little marble compass above George Washington's (empty) tomb in the Capitol marks where D.C.'s four quadrants intersect.

The fifth-longest natural arch in the world, and the longest outside China.

The most accurate timepiece in the world.

The oldest building in the District of Columbia was preserved because of a mistaken connection to George Washington.

Decades before the scandal, this staircase on the river was a literal "water gate."

D.C.'s first central library was born out of a chance encounter with the philanthropist whose name it bears.