This float factory takes the mask off of Mardi Gras and lets visitors see where the magic happens.

A 200-year-old building in the French Quarter that was to be Napoleon's home in the New World.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

A hidden subterranean installation offers a view of the sky.

Pillars made of 700 pieces of luggage climb to the ceiling of Sacramento Airport's baggage claim.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

The neighborhood church casts a breast-shaped shadow that locals have come to call the “two o’clock titty.”

The massive, incredibly rare instrument is over 11 feet tall with a range so deep it goes lower than humans can hear.

Giant telescope mirrors built in a spinning furnace under a college football stadium.

One of the oldest Mexican restaurants in the United States air-dries its trademark beef in a dangling outdoor cage.

An Arizona museum with a collection of pharmaceutical oddities, including a jar of a gangster's chewed gum.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

A modern mechanical planetary system, part of a 10,000 year clock.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

This beloved Baltimore spot features caged dolls, a giant Pez collection, and many, many mannequins.

It's not hard to see why the historic Peabody Conservatory of Music's library has been described as a "cathedral of books."

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Financial District stands a unique homage to the Mayan and Beaux Arts.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

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

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.