A massive collection of rare and antique books in a tiny ranching community in northern Texas.

This tiny, hurricane-resistant house in Galveston is one of the city's most notable architectural oddities.

This downtown Dallas art installation is always on the lookout.

A taste of Middle Earth, in the middle of the Bayou City.

A 90-year-old underground water reservoir offers a more industrial kind of tranquility.

A popular swimming hole that hides one of America's most deadly diving spots.

An emerald-green grotto just a short trip from Austin.

A "haunted" landmark on the coast of Southern California.

This mysterious and creepy location instills a strong sense of foreboding in all visitors.

A brooding mansion of clinker brick stands out among the Victorian houses of Pacific Heights.

One woman's Viking Castle on Lake Tahoe.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

Neoclassical Revival mansion and set of horror cult classic Phantasm.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

One of the few remaining carousels built by master amusement park carver Charles I.D. Looff.

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.

Fonts are born and bred here at the oldest letterpress type foundry in the United States.

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

Longtime headquarters of controversial boys' club for the world's wealthiest and most powerful.

Arcadia is home to a haven for nature geeks and 80s TV lovers alike.

Once a place of peaceful repose, this sanitarium now faces an uncertain future.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.