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

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

Dyed by iron oxide over centuries, these sandstone rocks rise thousands of feet into the sky.

The largest man-made crater in the U.S. marks the spot where we once tested mining with nukes.

The most magnificent bottle house in a town strangely full of them.

A land of debatable treasure.

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

Twelve plaster figures inspired by da Vinci's famed painting haunt the desert landscape above a real-life ghost town.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

A remote crossroads honoring a fallen talent.

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

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

Bits and pieces from the ill-fated Donner Party's winter cabins.

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

A pair of pure white felines guard the entrance to a spot of California real estate established as an artist's haven.

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

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

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

A modest reminder of treacherous waters at the Golden Gate.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

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