A modest reminder of treacherous waters at the Golden Gate.

A lighthouse built to save lives that took quite a few with its treacherous location.

Built by one man in the '20s, this site is now a museum representing the Great Basin cultures.

A stranded woman lived alone on this remote island for 18 years, inspiring the great children's novel "Island of the Blue Dolphins."

Salt is slowly eating away this abandoned saltworks town in the desert.

The black lab that was voted mayor of a California town is forever remembered by a life-size statue.

The diverse and sometimes odd cultural heritage of the Golden State is collected, examined, and displayed in this proud museum.

The beauty and the beast of hydraulic mining is on full display at this California Historic State Park.

Making Ice Cream Hip Since 2008.

The 10-foot-wide Long Beach home was built on a dare.

A monument to a one-legged kidnapper, horse thief, and charlatan asks visitors to throw rocks in a pile.

This concrete ship has had four careers - World War I tanker, floating amusement park, fishing pier, and artificial reef.

In the days before HD projectors and IMAX, some of the most powerful projectors belonged to planetariums.

This Southern Californian Conservation Center is home to singing and howling apes.

A 1920s speakeasy that had rum runners racing up and down the shores of California.

The oldest lighthouse on America's west coast no longer needs keepers, yet they maintain the site anyhow.

These four islands right offshore have waterfalls, colorful lights, fancy buildings, and a secret purpose.

Location of the most powerful laser in the world, and the potential birthplace of tiny stars.

Crumbling pink walls and murder memorials preserve the pioneer history of Joshua Tree.

This stretch of beach along California's central coast is a busy highway for the largest seal in the northern hemisphere.

Massive prehistoric mammals used these stones as oversized scratching posts.

Inspiring Earthlings to Boldly Go.

This desert oddity hides in plain sight thanks to a cartographic error and a desert explorer with a punny sense of humor.

Subterranean house made out of a grain silo, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains.