Equal parts record-breaking temple to consumerism and bizarre fun park, it's more than you think it is...

The capital of the Cayman Islands is a center of offshore banking, but gets battered by blistering hurricanes.

A lonely Gondola stuck on a traffic circle sits in a spot where it once would have floated down the Grand Canal.

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 second generation sun-powered marvel lights up the night.

What was once a presidential estate is now an exotic menagerie and home to the Budweiser Clydesdales.

A carousel trades in its classic horses and calliope for endangered species, native flora and fauna, and a modern soundtrack.

Wild West history in Hollywood style.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

A historic freight system that found the true gold rush is in tourism.

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

"The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3."

Sports history, made in the Arroyo Seco.

A multimedia experience that chronicles the atrocities of racism.

A six-ton wedding present for the King of the Scots.

The final resting place of soldiers' loyal canine companions.

A Looff creation in Santa Monica best described as “a California-Byzantine-Moorish-style fantasy.”

Large but largely ignored, these 42 life-size Liberty Bell replicas were a peculiar, unexplained feature on the facade of a Macy's department store.

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

A toweringly silly piece of modern art has been delighting locals since the 1980s.

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

In one Santa Monica parking lot a mushroom cloud made of chains heralds a message of peace.

A 19th-century Baja cantina that many say is the birthplace of the margarita.

This historic collection of Native Alaskan artifacts was resurrected through a partnership between the WPA and tribal artisans.