A whimsical antique shop with a strong air of mystery, filled with items from ages, and what feels like worlds, past.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

One of the last remnants of the city's Chinese nightclub scene is now a dive bar selling killer mai tais.

An art supply shop holds the secrets of this quiet neighborhood's raucous Barbary Coast past.

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

The oldest alley in San Francisco is paved with a reminder of the city's original shoreline.

Noble beasts perhaps, but not the Emperor's dogs.

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

These six walrus head statues harken back to a time when this area wasn't far from the oceanfront.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

There is no trying to fall in love with this Star Wars fountain, you just do or do not.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

Where the polar bear watches over everything, and every drink is a double.

A historic hotel in an old California railroad town with a rowdy reputation.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

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

A professional special effects makeup artist’s collection of horror creatures and one-of-a-kind recreations on display in downtown Boulder City.

This former open-pit manganese mine is now a massive graffiti canvas.

This hidden, women-built-and-operated Nevada temple on Shoshone Native American land is dedicated to the Egyptian lion goddess Sekhmet among other goddesses.

Water of undetermined depth has attracted rare fish and cult leaders alike.

A lawless town deep in Death Valley was famous for its riches and death rate.

The tragedy of the Japanese internment camps is remembered here by a stark "Soul Consoling Tower."