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.

A long-vacant Scottish Rite temple in Hollywood has been converted into an art museum filled with Masonic relics.

This hilltop park offers magnificent views and a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece.

A graceful natural rock formation stands astride the point where the Gulf of California meets the Pacific Ocean.

Earth's tallest volcano is sacred to Native Hawaiians, and home to a dozen world-class observatories.

Once strictly off-limits, this lower level housing curious and priceless vehicles of the Petersen Automotive Museum is now open to the public.

The only bridge in the United States where BASE jumping is legal without a permit year-round.

Made famous by cable TV, this oddball collection of antiques and collectibles is a cut above the rest.

World War II-era Nazi compound nestled in the Santa Monica hills.

Mexican food and folk art.

The quirky salon doubles as a retro museum run by the world's leading "hairstorian."

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

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

This “living museum” at UCLA exhibits thousands of plant species from all over the world.

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

An expansive book store, art gallery, and curio shop with wares ranging from tarot cards to novelty socks.

This nondescript tunnel has been featured in a number of iconic movies, from “Roger Rabbit” to “Back to the Future.”

The decor of this Hollywood movie palace just barely predated the opening of King Tut's tomb.

The hundreds of movies and television shows shot in this high desert town are commemorated in a unique museum.

Stroll the grounds built by murder, suicide, and dirty oil money at one of Hollywood's most filmed mansions.

Known as the "Hobbit Houses," these storybook homes look like they're straight out of the Shire.

Board a mine car and descend the #190 slope 300 feet underground into the Clark Vein of coal.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

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