Lucerne's central prison was converted into a tourist hotel with a bare minimum of changes.

This historic covered bridge contains a series of macabre paintings that communicate one thing: everyone dies.

This memorial commemorating fallen Swiss Guards of the French Revolution has been called the saddest stone in the world.

One hundred years ago this small house in downtown Zürich became the birthplace of the Dada movement.

Common all over Japan, kōbans are small community police boxes, and now one is guarding one of L.A.’s megamalls.

Where the writer penned his famous story about a jumping frog.

The last of its kind in the country.

This “living museum” at UCLA exhibits thousands of plant species from all over the world.

Puzzling...this tree looks like an assemblage of dismembered monkey limbs.

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

The second building of its name to occupy this location might be the finest flatiron building in San Francisco.

This quirky UFO-shaped curiosity is often mistaken for the airport’s control tower.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

One of the largest helium balloons in the U.S. is a 112-foot ginormous orange.

This well-traveled chess park offers scenic views of the pacific and a colorful, eclectic clientele.

The awe-inspiring ship from the golden era of cruising has an incomparable history and a reputation as one of the world’s most haunted places.

An old-timey medicine shop that once served Chinese laborers during the Gold Rush is still open for business to this day.

Two men, two visionaries of Venice Beach, one little hotel that smells like cookies.

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

This brightly made over hotel hides decades of suicide, serial killers, and mysterious deaths.

The final resting place of a space program monolith.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.