Before it was abandoned and left to rust alongside the road, this riverboat starred in a John Wayne movie.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

An extraordinary final resting place full of oversized art, amazing statues, and dead celebrities.

This abandoned boat was left in place thanks to its rotting beauty.

A glittering South Asian anomaly in a wealthy Los Angeles suburb.

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.

Celebrating the transformation of trash into objects of beauty.

Nuclear waste dump site now an environmental sanctuary.

Discover for yourself what Herb Caen referred to as "the best kept secret in the Bay Area."

This little blue house pokes out over the campus of UC San Diego, seven stories high.

Travelers leave tea kettles in a remote part of Death Valley as part of a mysterious, decades-old tradition.

This Pringle-shaped ledge makes for the perfect photo op.

The "3rd largest" city in California is an empty mirage of suburbia in the middle of nowhere.

The hidden jewel of Disneyland: a members only playground for the Disney elite.

A house built from trash known as the poor man's Hearst Castle.

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

This impressive tunnel was dug entirely by hand over the course of 36 years.

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

The unedited photograph called "Bliss" has graced the screens of over a billion computers.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

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

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

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.