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

The only museum of sake in the United States is nestled in an unlikely California college town.

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco's most expensive hotel suite includes a secret passageway rumored to have been used by JFK.

The remains of a 12th-century chapter house in Golden Gate Park.

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

A private home built to resemble the shape of a microscopic creature.

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

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

9,000 square feet of vintage and modern mechanical toys, dioramas & sideshow curiosities.

Nuclear waste dump site now an environmental sanctuary.

Tenacious mummies survived dental problems, eternal entombment, and more than their fair share of devastating fires.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

Once strictly off-limits, this lower level housing curious and priceless vehicles of the Petersen Automotive Museum is now open to the public.

Storybook cottage in Beverly Hills was once the site of 1920s silent film studio, affectionately known as "The Witch's House."

Ten 25-foot-tall, beehive-shaped kilns, abandoned in Death Valley.

A nursery specializing in strange and beautiful succulents and cacti.

The hidden jewel of Disneyland: a members only playground for the Disney elite.

Mexican food and folk art.

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.