A hardware store Buddha statue installed to deter vandalism wound up attracting Vietnamese immigrants who came to pray.

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

A remote desert lookout offers unparalleled views of the California badlands for those who brave the trek.

A giant desert bird that once swung music fans at Coachella now has a home in a nearby traffic circle.

This desert oddity hides in plain sight thanks to a cartographic error and a desert explorer with a punny sense of humor.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

60 feet of towering steel balances gracefully.

Outsider art or homage to aliens?

Deco Modern sculptures of the people of the Pacific, cast for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.

Shoot for par over the bodies of the dead on this cemetery-cum-golf course.

A huge collection of rocks, gems, and crystals.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

An art supply shop holds the secrets of this quiet neighborhood's raucous Barbary Coast past.

The so-called "Bridge of Thighs" in Palm Springs allows nudists to discreetly cross the road.

Experience Larry Spring's self-taught "common sense" laws of physics.

According to legend it was a nap taken under this tree that kicked off the California Gold Rush.

Catch a glimpse of the elusive Peninsular bighorns right off of the desert freeway.

Masterful ceramic fountain and map of the Pacific Basin.

The overgrown ruins of a once thriving World War I-era copper mine.

Inky sludge oozes to the surface of this beach thanks to a rare natural tar seep.

Special tunnels built so that frogs won't be killed when crossing the highway.

The Citrus Variety Collection at UC Riverside contains two trees of each of the 1,000+ varieties of citrus.

This 38-year old fish became a casualty of changing trends.

This futuristic bridge is one of the longest self-anchored pedestrian bridges in the world.