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

This brightly made over hotel hides decades of suicide, serial killers, and mysterious deaths.

Trails through lava-carved tube-caves display sparkling bacteria and a rich history.

Stripes of flowers bloom each spring in a 50 acre rainbow of color.

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

Historic funicular railway, believed to be the shortest railroad in the world.

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

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

A meditative space out of a fantasy story.

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.

This strange seaside tower got its name from a wealthy eccentric who would hide coins among its stones.

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

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 stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

Standing in a state of "arrested decay," this ghost town allows for a detailed peek into Gold Rush life in an unusually harsh climate.

The oldest pictographs on this decorated rock formation in California's Carrizo Plain date back as many as 4,000 years.

This ramshackle ghost town is comprised of mining-era buildings collected from around the region.

A small research station sits at the summit of this mountain, which is one of the few U.S. peaks higher than 14,000 feet outside of the Sierra Nevada.

This rock formation named for its unique shape is one of many that call the Alabama Hills home.