This residential door allows San Francisco muggles a glimpse at the wizarding world.

A famous alternative culture epicenter and where Joplin serenaded young hippies.

The preamble to the U.S. Constitution written entirely from vanity license plates hangs in the Smithsonian museum.

A three-story tower of books about Abraham Lincoln is one of the more unusual monuments to the president.

Franciscan monks created a facsimile of the Holy Land for North Americans who couldn’t afford the trip overseas.

An old-timey wax exhibition campily depicting New Orleans legends and scandals.

This historic New Orleans cemetery is the final resting place of members of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

This colorful New Orleans bookstore features rare and used titles, with a specialty in Cajun fare.

After the parade, students throw their beads on the tree hoping for good luck on exams.

Once the site of a Native American harvest festival, this humble clearing later played an invaluable role in the birth of jazz.

This unique shop is full of memento mori art, antique medical equipment, secret society paraphernalia, and historical relics.

The beautiful, fruit-covered facade hints at this building's former life.

This strange example of the Egyptian Revival architecture trend now holds Mardi Gras floats.

The only home of the famous French impressionist painter open to the public is now a museum and bed and breakfast.

Before becoming a public park, this spot was a shell midden, a fort, and an amusement park.

Shop for books in the New Orleans house where William Faulkner once lived.

This Birdsill Holly fire hydrant is the remnant of a very different type of hydration innovation.

A treasure trove of rare and exquisitely detailed antiques

According to one local tradition, the entrance to the Voodoo underworld can be found in New Orleans through seven gates scattered throughout the city's French Quarter.

A blank headstone topped with a pile of pennies marks the final resting place of the infamous assassin.

A remote horde of architectural treasures fit for Indiana Jones.

The design of this historic domed church was influenced by Thomas Jefferson and intended as a statement of religious freedom.

Brain collection and database that narrows the gap between man and animal.

A faded sign from the 1920s remembers Baltimore's resistance toward banning alcohol.