An historic and oft-filmed spot for musclebound iron pumpers on the Pacific coast.

After starting as a whimsical tourist attraction that eventually found its way to ruin, these renovated canals offer a lush and exotic locale on the Pacific Coast.

America's most famous piece of self-built architecture.

The site of murders and Satanic cult gatherings.

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

This strange seaside tower got its name from a wealthy eccentric who would hide coins among its stones.

Oldest building in California still in use.

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

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.

A sculpture of the famous photograph stands on San Diego's "Greatest Generation Walk."

Twelve plaster figures inspired by da Vinci's famed painting haunt the desert landscape above a real-life ghost town.

Odd outsider art installations surround a Gold Rush-era ghost town.

A land of debatable treasure.

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

Millions of years of oxidation make a drive down this winding Death Valley road surprisingly colorful.

"Only the devil could play golf here."

The lowest point in North America is home to an undrinkable pool surrounded by fields of geometric salt flats.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

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

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

This abandoned Navy base was transformed into an off-grid alternative living community for thousands of people.

A hand-built folk art installation covered with messages of God's love.

Version of the French Riviera destroyed by the sea.

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.