A lawless town deep in Death Valley was famous for its riches and death rate.

Abortion, prohibition, religion, war, and fear all play a part in the history of this idiosyncratic Pacifica castle.

The Empire Mine is "one of the oldest, largest, deepest, longest and richest gold mines in California."

Its dark depths conceal millions of rare, delicate crystal formations.

This lesser known Hearst estate is a fairytale village built from the stolen bones of historic European buildings.

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."

The world's largest wooden trestle stretches across this desert canyon in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

An abandoned, unfinished mansion on grounds strewn with lava rocks.

A raised boardwalk winds through a thicket of stunted, century-old trees no more than nine feet tall.

An abandoned Jazz Age dream home and con man's hideout in Death Valley.

No one's quite sure why there's a metal megaphone bolted on two rocks in the middle of the Mojave Desert.

A deserted hodgepodge of experimental structures designed by nearby university students.

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

The liveliest ghost town in the state.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

One of the most unusual geological features, recognizable from a dozen hit movies.

The highest dunes in California are the most likely place in the area to hear the Singing Sands.

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

A desert ghost town—occupied for only 12 years—was once home to more than 500 silver mines.

Commonly referred to as the most photographed Victorian home in the United States.

A volcanic tunnel illuminated by natural skylights offers a shaded respite from the desert sun.