Back in the day everyone who was anyone played this historic western theater.

Old batteries and frog skeletons reside in this lakeside monument to Alessandro Volta.

Depicting scenes of everyday life - and specific individuals - in Great Depression era San Francisco.

Puzzling...this tree looks like an assemblage of dismembered monkey limbs.

This municipal playground was co-created by the father of one of the most playful characters ever.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

Thousands of turbines whir at at the origin of North American wind power.

Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

This bridge was constructed from the rubble of the infamous Bastille.

This crumbling Death Valley mining complex was known for its use of giant, 20-mule team wagons.

A bit of retro transportation flair preserved in the world's largest department store.

A former waterfront market is now in the center of town due to some interesting Boston engineering.

Massive prehistoric mammals used these stones as oversized scratching posts.

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

Allowing humans and fish alike to migrate from freshwater to saltwater and back again.

It should come as no surprise that the world's largest artichoke lies in the town that calls itself the "Artichoke Center of the World."

This former fascist summer camp was abandoned for decades.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

A Montreal deli that was so beloved that it was allowed to circumvent their laws of language.

The largest whiskey stash on the West Coast survived the 1906 fires--but not without heroic effort.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

The interior of the Overlook Hotel in "The Shining" was based on this Yosemite original.

The site of Paul Revere's historic two lantern warning.

One poet's handmade, anachronistic home.