This "synagogue" is not what it seems to be.

This giant temperature attraction created some giant electric bills.

The remnants of a failed socialist commune can still be found just off a California highway.

Like a kitschy mirage in the Mojave, this eatery serves up classic 50s-style diner meals and a dinosaur sculpture garden.

This diner's a kitschy dreamland for anyone whose heart is stuck in the 1980s.

This quirky UFO-shaped curiosity is often mistaken for the airport’s control tower.

An Old West film set seen in countless TV shows and movies is open for the public to explore.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

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

A herd of 150 bison live on California's Santa Catalina Island and are at the heart of an ongoing debate between environmental protection and economic expansion.

A museum, art project, and institution that demands we look at the world around us in a strange new way.

Burping, gurgling geothermal mud pots by the Salton Sea.

L. Frank Baum wrote part of the "Wizard of Oz" series in this wooden Victorian beach resort.

This sun-scorched lakebed contains samples of half the natural elements known to humankind.

Legendary frontman of the Doors looms in this giant mural by famed Venice muralist, Rip Cronk.

The cluster of boulders near Fort Irwin is covered in military insignia.

The space-age building is home to one of the few remaining rotating restaurants in America, and the only one that inspired a 1980s sitcom.

Four hundred granite steps were built into this massive rock by the National Park Service.

“It's the quality” (but probably also the drive-through donut tunnel) that has attracted diners since 1968.

Hollywood's oldest hotel is the site of the first Academy Awards, the birthplace of Marilyn Monroe's career, and the home of Montgomery Clift's ghost.

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

Historic house-museum dedicated to the revolutionary gay graphic artist Tom of Finland.

The dramatic upward-curving roof is one of the most iconic examples of Googie architecture that still stands today.

Finally the worlds of UFO enthusiasts and beef jerky lovers have come together in this roadside shop.