The beloved statue at the National Academy of Sciences is oh so inviting to sit on.

The bank that helped fund the Mexican-American War and the purchase of Alaska met its downfall after helping Augusto Pinochet launder money.

The little-known, 300-year history of the area includes former lives as a bustling tobacco port, parking lot, and industrial dump.

Was there a small "backpack nuke" hidden in the attic? JFK apparently thought so.

The sculptor was instructed to add “stallion attributes” to the general's bronze mare.

This curved Manhattan building was built to house the opulence of John D. Rockefeller's oil empire.

Once the tallest building in the world and the site of "the highest dinner ever held in New York" this building now holds the most expensive penthouse in the city.

A massive volcanic plug is now a protected area that hosts a number of bird species.

Where there's quartz, there must be gold. Thus is the story of the mines of Julian, and the titillating times of the Gold Rush.

Along a California highway is a kind of Jurassic Park made of metal.

A former utopian healing center created by a huckster and built by derelicts.

A ghost town originally established and governed solely by Black Americans seeking a place of their own, free from discrimination.

Get up close to emus and ostriches, or buy their tasty meat.

This little blue house pokes out over the campus of UC San Diego, seven stories high.

Smooth basaltic rocks tell a tale of ancient glacial waterfalls.

This unique sanctuary invites you to interact with the beautiful birds.

A black and white painted wall creates an optical illusion in the California desert.

A regular looking rock with an unbelievable history.

Experience a quartz crystal sound bath inside a storied, all-wood sound-chamber.

The Hopi-style structure was built by the man who discovered Desert Hot Springs' famous mineral water.

An outdoor sculpture park of giant pink robots and post-apocalyptic Christmas scenes.

On a barren hillside in the Yucca Valley, the recently restored Desert Christ Park has attracted pilgrims and kitsch hunters for over 50 years.

A music-filled, booze-soaked oasis in the desert.

A fake town founded by Western movie stars is now becoming a hip desert community.