Despite being a perfectly pleasant place to be, Loyalton can't seem to attract any visitors.

A statue commemorate Tommie Smith and John Carlos's brave protest at the 1968 Olympics, a watershed moment for civil rights.

The quirky salon doubles as a retro museum run by the world's leading "hairstorian."

Perhaps the most unique of any Frank Gehry design for one simple reason: Gehry himself actually lives here.

The Giant Lemon of Lemon Grove.

This whimsical seashell-shaped place of worship was designed to blend into its surroundings.

If you are looking for a used Russian battery, Chinese Ham Radio or other electronic oddities this Flea Market is a good place to start.

The Route 66 institution that inspired Taco Bell also served as an important headquarters for Mexican-American social movements.

This little valley along Highway 1 is engulfed by thousands of lilies during the spring season.

A stranded woman lived alone on this remote island for 18 years, inspiring the great children's novel "Island of the Blue Dolphins."

Inky sludge oozes to the surface of this beach thanks to a rare natural tar seep.

An abandoned 1920s-era stretch of cabins now overshadowed by the 66 Motel.

This store is dedicated to unique found footage and the strangeness of pre-internet pop-culture.

A life-sized mammoth sculpture marks the spot where the remains of a Columbian mammoth were discovered in 2005.

The southernmost outpost of the Russian Empire in colonial America.

Guns that have been defending San Francisco since 1904.

An iconic location along the Los Angeles River where countless movie scenes are filmed.

Elephant seals and sea lions have turned the abandoned buildings on this island into their endangered love shack.

This surreptitious shop is only open five hours per week.

Burping, gurgling geothermal mud pots by the Salton Sea.

Salt is slowly eating away this abandoned saltworks town in the desert.

A glimpse into the lives of the the Miwok and Paiute people in Yosemite National Park.

Hidden in the Santa Ynez Mountains off Highway 154, this tiny restaurant once served as a stagecoach stop.

This one-block alleyway is stuffed with street art that is colorful, cultural, and intensely political.