From Japan to Italy, this California park explores the world's cultures through their gardens.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

The fossilized remains of ancient California redwoods.

This opulent hotel has been visited by Spider-Man, Charlie's Angels, and the Ghostbusters.

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

The liveliest ghost town in the state.

Since 1973, this block has been home to the most concentrated collection of murals in San Francisco.

Sunset-colored dunes of volcanic ash make taking a poor photo impossible.

One of the most unusual geological features, recognizable from a dozen hit movies.

Named after a bandit and the star of several Hollywood prehistoric landscapes, these sandstone formations are a historical part of the Los Angeles natural landscape.

This print shop boasts one of the largest pinball arcades in San Francisco.

An increasingly eccentric apartment building, topped with winged beasties.

An optical illusion found amid a logged redwood forest.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

A little barn in the middle of the city preserving Hollywood treasures since 1985.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

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

The hotel room where Janis Joplin tragically died has now become a makeshift shrine to the singer.

The famous animator's private station house and man-cave was the birthplace of imagineering.

Gold Rush-era tombstones line the park's paths.

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

A regular looking rock with an unbelievable history.

This stunning sea creature-shaped home blends into the landscape like a fantasy villa.

The highest dunes in California are the most likely place in the area to hear the Singing Sands.