Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

Eons old volcanic activity created one of the most stunning rock formations in the United States.

This grand mansion has starred in everything from Bones to Buffy.

This Big Sur waterfall drops 80 feet directly into the Pacific Ocean, and inspired the hillside house up top.

Stripes of flowers bloom each spring in a 50 acre rainbow of color.

A "Titanic" superfan changed his name to Jack and set up this strange shrine to the blockbuster, complete with Korean food and Tarot readings.

Trails through lava-carved tube-caves display sparkling bacteria and a rich history.

A ghost town at the airport is now a refuge for blue butterflies.

An inconspicuous footbridge beloved by San Diego locals.

Carved by a waterfall in a hard-to-reach rock formation, this heart-shaped rock has inspired romantics for decades.

Canyon walls shrouded in ferns.

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

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

Each year these high desert hills are absolutely covered with poppy flowers in a surreal show of nature.

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.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

The ghostly remains of an accidental sea.

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

Left untouched since a double murder-suicide in the 1960s, Los Feliz murder mansion remains a neighborhood mystery.

A castle that was built stone by stone by an eccentric journalist.

There is no trying to fall in love with this Star Wars fountain, you just do or do not.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

World-famous, Pink's still manages to keep its prized cult fetish status.