This municipal playground was co-created by the father of one of the most playful characters ever.

It is locally loved and ridiculed for literally looking like poop.

This 1920s masterpiece of French Quarter architecture hides a secret tunnel used by Albert Einstein.

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.

An unexpected and peaceful oasis on a hillside.

A hardware store Buddha statue installed to deter vandalism wound up attracting Vietnamese immigrants who came to pray.

Educational foundation that teaches the powers of fourth dimensional physical properties.

Of all the origin stories for weed's secret code, this one likely has the goods.

One doctor's retirement plan included opening this award-winning Mexican-Indian eatery on the ground floor of a hospital.

This collection of hand fans doubles as a history of femininity.

Masterful ceramic fountain and map of the Pacific Basin.

A mesmerizing disco ball-like sculpture along the Sacramento River Walk.

This graffiti-covered bridge is the quintessential vision of a place for disillusioned youth to escape the complexities of burgeoning adulthood.

Museum dedicated to the preservation of surf culture.

An off-grid art installation that encourages its visitors to imagine a world without waste.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

This California tree is the single source of the state's entire orange industry.

Experience Larry Spring's self-taught "common sense" laws of physics.

Home of what was the largest hydraulic mine in the world, producing gold and the first diamonds in the U.S.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

A Biblically-based Natural History Museum.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

Here, visitors can swing with the waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Established in 1853, this crumbling cemetery sits forgotten on the corner of Church and Chapel in Gold Country.