Only through deep darkness and tragedy did this elaborate royal palace become a sacred temple.

The birthplace of an eccentric alchemist and possible inspiration for the fictional reanimator of monsters.

This tremendous timepiece was once the largest cuckoo clock in the world.

Dedicated to the European Sinti and Roma peoples murdered during the Holocaust.

Thousands of coffin-like pillars make up this controversial Holocaust memorial.

The most visited, and possibly most controversial, museum in Germany.

This 18-foot-tall steel lotus is a meditation on ecological crisis that originally appeared at Burning Man.

The arch that celebrated the completion of the Lincoln and Victory highways.

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

This (occupied) house is 10 feet wide and full of spite.

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.

An abandoned convention space that has been left to the homeless and the radical.

International delicatessen has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 110 years.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

Despite a legend that says this highest peak in Oregon was climbed in high heels scores of people have died on its slopes.

World's only nuclear reactor operated by liberal arts undergraduates.

The magic's in the hole!

The world's smallest park was dedicated in 1948 as the only colony for leprechauns west of Ireland.

Portlandia is the second-largest copper repoussé statue in the United States.

Odd stone and concrete monuments in the "Poet of the Sierras" eclectic folly garden.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.