There aren't too many operational funiculars around, but Pittsburgh has two!

A museum devoted to bringing to light forgotten or neglected histories through exhibitions, education and public programming.

An old-timey wax exhibition campily depicting New Orleans legends and scandals.

Legendary prop shop filled with one man's collection of scientific curiosities.

Costumed elves and mountain bikers co-exist peacefully at this abandoned Christmas-themed adventure park.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

One man's lifelong collection of 10,000 rare steins tells the story of beer drinking from 1350 to today.

At this Wisconsin museum there are real ducks, fake ducks, duck calls and a Duck Blind.

A county library in rural Ohio houses one of the finest mineral collections in the world.

A meditative space out of a fantasy story.

The house that took a plunge into the facade of a museum.

This small oxbow lake has rare giant river otters and some Seussian-sounding birds.

A black and white mural stands out from its psychedelic surroundings.

Established in the '60s, a family-owned tropical drink bar founded by Ray Buhen, bartender to the stars.

This 47-story "M" needed 20 years to be completed

A former chicken restaurant that doubled as a speakeasy is now a quirky home full of wonderfully strange traditions.

This macabre monument atop an ancient well gives a nod to a brutal episode in Scottish clan history.

Built to house a chapter of the Knights Templar, this grandiose building is a relic of Freemasonry in Chicago a century ago.

A little-known subterranean street runs under some of the best-known buildings in Chicago's River North.

The restored and active Victorian-era final resting place of San Francisco.

In this century-old literary safehouse, print is alive and well.

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

This "synagogue" is not what it seems to be.

The short oil boom of Venice Beach, and its swift removal from the tourism-laden landscape.