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.

The programmatic glory of LA's giant whiskey barrel building has become an upscale reminder of the city's kitschy roadside past.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

Tenacious mummies survived dental problems, eternal entombment, and more than their fair share of devastating fires.

The Los Angeles flood disaster that took 400 lives and ended the career of William Mulholland.

The home of one of California's most important horticulturalists wilts amidst a lovely park.

The ruins of the castle that chemicals built.

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.

A ruined hotel with an unlucky history and an eerie present.

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

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

This lovely, if imposing, piece of Canadian gothic is possibly the most photographed hotel in the world.