The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

One of Catholicism's four major basilicas has a series of papal portraits that are said to predict the end of the world.

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

A daily replay of the experiment that proved the rotation of the Earth.

The first American department store, and home to the largest operating musical instrument in the world.

Yo, Adrian!

Tour the dark and beloved poet's former cobwebbed basement, which may have inspired "The Black Cat."

This distinctive Crescent City tradition dates back to the days of horse-drawn carriages.

The world-record holder for the longest bridge stretching continuously over water.

By day this New Orleans square is for pedestrians, but by night it is a kingdom of kittens.

A grand Gothic Revival basilica with stained glass depictions of Montreal's religious history has only one soul resting in its crypt.

A few iconic structures are all that remain of America’s first outdoor shopping mall.

The blinking light atop the iconic landmark has been sending secret messages for decades.

This quirky UFO-shaped curiosity is often mistaken for the airport’s control tower.

After starting as a whimsical tourist attraction that eventually found its way to ruin, these renovated canals offer a lush and exotic locale on the Pacific Coast.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Hollywood's most famous landmark, the "temporary" sign that has stood for decades longer than intended.

A hidden path at the National Theatre lets you look behind the scenes of the latest productions.

This magnificently macabre shield shows the power of chivalrous love in medieval times.

The pockmarks across the building's facade are remnants of the Blitz.

This bewitching Babylonian goddess haunts a hallway of the British Museum.

The library houses an incredible collection of some of the world's most impressive books and manuscripts.