Early prototype for Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.

This rare tortoise skeleton has been hanging around the downtown Los Angeles museum for over a century.

The most isolated mailbox in America lets desert travelers record their passing.

A temple devoted to inner esoteric mysteries located in a California commercial strip.

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

Semi-recognized center of the world, with many oddities.

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.

The headquarters of a secretive order is also a beautifully-designed park.

A music-filled, booze-soaked oasis in the desert.

The sun acts as a key that only fits this giant keyhole twice a year.

Dioramas and animatronics lead you through the story of Bhagavad-gita, the Indian literary classic.

A small medical museum with a recreated doctor's office.

Bits and pieces from the ill-fated Donner Party's winter cabins.

At this California chicken ranch, four bucks will get you 18 eggs and a chorus of dancing animatronic poultry.

The abandoned train depot now doubles as a well-placed rest stop for those who take the road less traveled.

Secret US military film studio in the Hollywood Hills.

Get up close to emus and ostriches, or buy their tasty meat.

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

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

A cozy bookstore is tucked within an old gold mine shaft beneath the cafe and ice cream shop.

A vast city of the dead, where the deceased outnumber the living by more than a million.

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

The illuminating collection of L.A. street lights is run by the city and only opens one day per month.

California's own majestic geyser is powered by a subterranean volcano.