A Looff creation in Santa Monica best described as “a California-Byzantine-Moorish-style fantasy.”

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

An abandoned 1970s theme park that has been turned into a space for waterfront walking.

The garage at the childhood home of Steve Jobs was a hangout for the founders of Apple, even if they never built computers there.

This small monument to the great inventor contains a time capsule and a Wi-Fi hotspot.

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.

A humble garage, world-famous for being the epicenter of a technology revolution.

The world’s first stop-motion film was created on the racetrack outside this building.

Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

The Laureates here get something even more coveted than a Nobel Prize: free parking for life.

Art from the latest counter-culture; kids who dye their hair blue and believe the future will be a post-apocalyptic water world.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

Over 315,000 preserved amphibians and reptiles in jars.

San Francisco's first World's Fair, dedicated to the wonders of California.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

A hidden subterranean installation offers a view of the sky.

Art in the form of a winding, man made crack in stone.

A masterpiece in Golden Gate Park by virtue of the artist’s debt.

The legendary statue-hating superintendent of Golden Gate Park is honored with... a statue.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

This exemplar of modernist architecture is meant to captivate and inspire students of the Cooper Union.

A terrific purveyor of natural history objects and curios.

The headquarters of one of the world’s longest-running humor magazines bears a noticeable resemblance to a head wearing a Prussian helmet.