The first partially complete dinosaur skeleton was discovered here, forever changing the world's view of the ruling reptiles.

This huge work of functional public art replaced a landfill in New Jersey's Meadowlands.

A surprising museum of 20th-century technology.

A simple plaque remembers an act of WWI terrorism that obliterated an island and forever scarred the Statue of Liberty.

The highest point in New Jersey is marked by a massive, if simply named, obelisk.

A playground inspired by differential calculus dangles from the ceiling of the Liberty Science Center.

A giant light 13 feet high shines near Thomas Edison's old Menlo Park lab.

A world-class collection of mechanical musical instruments and automata.

The remains of a century-old mansion that met a fiery demise years after it was deserted.

Whimsical artist house in the New Jersey woods.

A unique sculpture park that specializes in the huge and bizarre.

Hundreds of glow-in-the-dark objects light up a museum in a historic zinc mine.

The art and history of the velvet painting are on full display in this Los Angeles museum.

A master of deception, Harry Houdini's greatest trick may have been living in two places at once.

The space-age building is home to one of the few remaining rotating restaurants in America, and the only one that inspired a 1980s sitcom.

A monthly street "service" of handmade puppets and live original puppets, whose devotees profess has the power to change lives.

A fashion designer's dazzling world of Japanese collectibles is hidden in a warehouse downtown.

This stockpile of junked electronic and mechanical gadgets is a favorite among Hollywood prop masters.

This collector's home is a constant work in progress.

Space program, pneumatics and more, bits and pieces, for movie sets or the common man.

The illuminating collection of L.A. street lights is run by the city and only opens one day per month.

Though tiki culture has gone in and out of fashion, the Tonga Hut has always been flying the flag in Los Angeles.

A common entry point to the Griffith Observatory trail holds its own wonders.

The neighborhood shop is a sort of tiny cactus museum full of exotic specimens you can take home.