Apartment building was once posh playground to the Hollywood elite.

Two men, two visionaries of Venice Beach, one little hotel that smells like cookies.

From pre-war whiskey cocktails to prohibition-era speakeasy secrecy, this bar has seen it all.

A spiritual center in the Santa Monica Mountains founded by Alice Coltrane after the death of her husband and fellow jazz musician John Coltrane.

A strange mishmash of ruins and abandoned structures hint at the park's many lives.

Rusty industrial city full of oxidized distillation towers.

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

The quiet canyon has a tumultuous history involving a doomsday cult.

The location of the last stand of Charles Manson's doomsday cult.

View the California coastline (and the home of Barbara Streisand) inch by inch with stunning, government-sanctioned aerial photography.

Will Geer's outdoor theater started as a mountain retreat for actors, musicians, and other artists who were blacklisted during the Red Scare.

"The only replacement for a DC-3 is another DC-3."

The diverse and sometimes odd cultural heritage of the Golden State is collected, examined, and displayed in this proud museum.

In one Santa Monica parking lot a mushroom cloud made of chains heralds a message of peace.

Santa Monica's oldest restaurant, decorated with set pieces from the Mutiny on the Bounty.

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

A Cold War site complete with rusty structures, hiking trails, and beautiful views.

The last orange grove of the San Fernando Valley is owned and protected by CSU Northridge.

Malibu's first beach home features an astonishing trove of ceramic tiles.

Abandoned anti-ballistic missile base.

The White House Situation Room was taken apart in 2006 and shipped to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Rusty pieces of metal jutting out of a breakwater are all that's visible of the 12,500-ton ocean liner that capsized just off the beach.

From Japan to Italy, this California park explores the world's cultures through their gardens.

A basement full of treasures lies beneath this inn that has worn many hats throughout its 140+ years.