L.A.'s oldest operating bowling alley is a beautifully restored homage to its speakeasy days.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

The largest drain hole in the world.

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

Once thought to be the oldest living tree in the world, Methuselah was germinated before the Egyptian pyramids were built.

Eons old volcanic activity created one of the most stunning rock formations in the United States.

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

Carved by a waterfall in a hard-to-reach rock formation, this heart-shaped rock has inspired romantics for decades.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

Quite simply the largest tree in the world (by volume).

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

An underground mansion with fruit-bearing trees and grapes growing beneath the surface of central California.

Towering basalt columns, a creation of fire and ice.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

The rocks in this arid basin leave trails of movement behind them.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

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

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

Though its celestial ceiling is impressive, the true star is the vast collection of French books.

Just your average Marie Antoinette–themed speakeasy in an abandoned 19th-century subway tunnel.

Nikola Tesla's former home contains an homage hidden from plain sight.

Leaf through over 30,000 artists' sketchbooks in what may be the world's largest collection of doodles

Home to the infamous "Typhoid Mary" and the worst loss of life in New York's history prior to September 11, 2001.