Gnomes have their very own bonsai-landscaped settlement on a university campus.

The remains of a deserted steamboat sit rusting beside an old ferry pier and an abandoned train platform.

A massive hydrovolcanic explosion left a half-mile wide crater in Death Valley.

Political debates in a fabulous Pasadena castle.

Rising out of miles of farmland, these buttes are sometimes called the world's smallest mountain range.

Its dark depths conceal millions of rare, delicate crystal formations.

Gouged in the mountain to make stage coach access easier through the Fremont Pass.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

I Street Bridge is the heaviest swinging center bridge in the United States.

At this deceptively beautiful beach, nothing is what it seems.

Inside this clubhouse is a cinephile's paradise.

Home to one of the world’s largest collections of model yachts.

This monster board rode a monster wave to break two world records.

Since World War II people have been decorating this stretch of the Yuma desert with signatures arranged out of rocks.

One time home to turn of the century explosives, now hidden under the Bay Bridge.

This municipal playground was co-created by the father of one of the most playful characters ever.

The beloved dining spot stands at the cross-section of Hollywood and the Old West.

In this roadside "community for the small," abandoned toys gain new lives.

A dry lake is what remains of a community founded on a real estate scam.

A remote desert lookout offers unparalleled views of the California badlands for those who brave the trek.

This subtle Berkeley paving stone actually marks off a lawless tube of air that extends into space.

A giant desert bird that once swung music fans at Coachella now has a home in a nearby traffic circle.

Housed in a memorial lighthouse, this museum relays the history of surfing, beginning with the antics of royal Hawaiian teenagers.

Every weekend, people gather here for a brief chance to see their loved ones on the other side of the United States–Mexico border.