A carousel trades in its classic horses and calliope for endangered species, native flora and fauna, and a modern soundtrack.

What's left of the ruins of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, or World's Fair, also known as the White City.

The permanent home of Elektro, the celebrity automaton of the 1939 World's Fair.

Historic marionette theater features thousands of handmade puppets and free cups of ice cream.

A monthly street "service" of handmade puppets and live original puppets, whose devotees profess has the power to change lives.

One man's homage to the sun continues to grow like a glass fractal.

Instead of hoofing it up steep stairs, residents can hitch a ride on this private lift.

An off-the-beaten-path place to literally hang beneath Milwaukee's Holton Street Bridge.

A classically trained chef makes beloved burritos inside a gas station.

Though tiki culture has gone in and out of fashion, the Tonga Hut has always been flying the flag in Los Angeles.

World's oldest operating science fiction and fantasy club, once home to Ray Bradbury and L. Ron Hubbard.

Perhaps the most unique of any Frank Gehry design for one simple reason: Gehry himself actually lives here.

A free library to stumble across, one of many placed worldwide if you know where to look.

"The greatest unknown literary treasure in Los Angeles."

One of the last few places in Manhattan that employed a pneumatic systemic keeps it on display.

The Bucyrus-Erie model 1850B electric shovel, or "Big Brutus," the largest existing electric shovel in the world.

Panorama exhibition hall in old silent theater with a beautiful backyard garden.

A tiny islet just off Long Island offers a wealth of infectious curiosities.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

An offbeat angle on the ocean viewed through an antiquated lens.

A large camera obscura, constructed entirely from digitally fabricated components.

Once used to screen films for theater owners to rent, this historic building is now a start up hub.

It may appear to be a fancy junk yard, but each item has a story to tell and a lesson to impart.

The last funhouse of its kind, where guests enter through the mouth of an 80-year-old blue whale.