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

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

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

A restaurant on Staten Island showcases a different grandmother’s cooking every night.

Behind a bodega is a small museum of relics and ephemera showcasing the history of New York.

A shrine to a skeleton saint in the city of angels.

A multimedia experience that chronicles the atrocities of racism.

The original toys that inspired the beloved children's stories are on display at the New York Public Library.

A masterpiece of LGBT art has been restored in what may now be the most valuable restroom in America.

One of New York's best collections of pinball is hidden in a secret bar in the back of this laundromat.

The "Seinfeld" diner.

Historic marionette theater features thousands of handmade puppets and free cups of ice cream.

One man's vast collection of artifacts and ephemera from matchbooks and postcards to vintage neon signs and cars.

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

This Los Angeles animation studio is keeping the wonder of stop motion puppetry alive.

This whimsical group of statues is a favorite of children who love to climb all over Lewis Carroll's beloved characters.

Collapsing castle on the Hudson river was once the storage site of military surplus business.

A stunning, two-tiered waterfall made famous by poets, artists and the legend of a ghost dog.

A castle that was built stone by stone by an eccentric journalist.

Panorama exhibition hall in old silent theater with a beautiful backyard garden.

Crypt mausoleum in cathedral's basement contains relics of third century Roman martyr, Saint Vibiana.

A hands-on traveling collection of the innovative devices of yesteryear.

Read a book next to a Midtown waterfall.

A semi-scholarly approach to sex.