Instead of hoofing it up steep stairs, residents can hitch a ride on this private lift.

60 feet of towering steel balances gracefully.

Common all over Japan, kōbans are small community police boxes, and now one is guarding one of L.A.’s megamalls.

Raised illegally, Reggie now lives at the Los Angeles Zoo after authorities spent years tracking him down.

This symbol of peace is appropriately positioned overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

A fashion designer's dazzling world of Japanese collectibles is hidden in a warehouse downtown.

Outposts of this restaurant chain were shaped like jaunty chapeaus.

This forgotten Frank Lloyd Wright house is an architectural marvel at the end of a sleepy residential street.

An historic and oft-filmed spot for musclebound iron pumpers on the Pacific coast.

A monthly street "service" of handmade puppets and live original puppets, whose devotees profess has the power to change lives.

A Bicycle Path in the Sky.

Friendships have been forged over ham and eggs every Wednesday morning for nearly a century.

A three-story, three-dimensional hobo clown in a tutu welcomes CVS shoppers.

This rare tortoise skeleton has been hanging around the downtown Los Angeles museum for over a century.

Pay your respects to a folk-punk legend.

A cobblestone alley with an interesting past.

The quiet canyon has a tumultuous history involving a doomsday cult.

Dozens of feral felines rule a segment of Hollywood's only graveyard.

Where the line between entertainment and aerospace blurs.

The site of a classic series of Laurel and Hardy pratfalls.

The neighborhood shop is a sort of tiny cactus museum full of exotic specimens you can take home.

This traditional garden in the San Fernando Valley doubled for Star Fleet Academy, and is irrigated entirely by wastewater.

Hidden above a drug store on a nondescript corner of Lincoln Heights is a private clubhouse for intrepid explorers.

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