California's first suspension bridge.

A fire lookout atop a glacial pinnacle is reached by climbing three vertiginous flights of stairs.

A monument to the frontier doctor who came up with the idea of delineating highways with a painted line.

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

At night, a grove of towering redwood trees growing through the pavement block out all light from the so-called “Dark Park” of Madrone Avenue.

"You don't need a rocket scientist to build a steam engine, but we've got one." -Museum docent on the credentials of a restoration volunteer.

Astronomers plan to launch a space telescope into orbit, to find out what exactly stands in the way of an asteroid hitting Earth.

This bakery sits on the site of the Black Panther Party's first headquarters.

A sparse, solitary sequoia still stands as a living tribute to the famous conservationist who planted it—but it's dying.

The San Andreas Fault spectacularly offsets this creek.

This cabin from the 1850s is one of the first structures built by Chinese immigrants in California.

Check out a shovel along with your Shakespeare.

French prisoners carved these boats from the bones of their meat rations.

Two pillars set 10 paces apart commemorate the "last notable American duel."

The timepiece that exonerated a labor radical accused of a parade bombing that killed ten people.

Tucked away behind an unassuming set of shops is a must-see series of stunning murals.

Where the first "expert riders, willing to risk death daily" for the Pony Express were recruited.

One of only five observatories in the world built to measure the Earth's wobble.

Built in 1906, this unique building was the first Hindu temple in the United States.

This museum explores the history of the book, from scrolls to mass-produced objects through tools, stories, and massive cast-iron binding machinery (some of it operational).

The oldest Naval cemetery on the West Coast.

A 250 million-year-old rock formation has earned a rather unique nickname.

An old whaling station now serves to give the public a look at the commercial whaling industry, no longer a part of Monterey's economy.

These structures were inspired by both Native American shelters as well as, strangely, an ice cream shop.