This “living museum” at UCLA exhibits thousands of plant species from all over the world.

An expansive book store, art gallery, and curio shop with wares ranging from tarot cards to novelty socks.

A fashion designer's dazzling world of Japanese collectibles is hidden in a warehouse downtown.

The neighborhood shop is a sort of tiny cactus museum full of exotic specimens you can take home.

A common entry point to the Griffith Observatory trail holds its own wonders.

This serene oasis in an affluent Los Angeles neighborhood holds some of Gandhi's ashes and got Elvis into Eastern Philosophy.

Established in the '60s, a family-owned tropical drink bar founded by Ray Buhen, bartender to the stars.

Shop selling 500 flavors of soda has something for everyone.

America's most famous piece of self-built architecture.

One man's homage to the sun continues to grow like a glass fractal.

High on a hill overlooking Los Angeles lives a world famous, high power conical Tesla Coil.

Non-profit time travel mart sells goods you would need for a trip through the fourth dimension.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

The abandoned zoo enclosures offer a perfect place to experience the other side of the bars.

This 19th century train workshop is a treasure trove of railroad history.

A tiny survivor of the Donner Party disaster.

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

A favorite haunt of dinosaur loving children and hallucinogen loving hippies alike.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

A former hardware store near Yerba Buena is the official home of California's history.

These WWII-era murals were initially booed as a libelous portrayal of the American dream but have survived multiple attempts to have them destroyed.

Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

The oldest dim sum restaurant in the United States is a nostalgic jewel.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.