Mexican food and folk art.

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

Home to the "Circus" trees created by Axel Erlandson.

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

The unbelievably opulent home built for an infamous newspaperman.

The largest drain hole in the world.

A trash dump made beautiful by nature's power.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

This abandoned Navy base was transformed into an off-grid alternative living community for thousands of people.

This rare example of a "tidefall" is a spectacular drop from the cliffs down onto the beach.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

An outdoor sculpture park of giant pink robots and post-apocalyptic Christmas scenes.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

Explore 10 acres of environmental sculptures.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

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