Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

Get up close to emus and ostriches, or buy their tasty meat.

A geological mystery on Camelback Mountain.

This well-traveled chess park offers scenic views of the pacific and a colorful, eclectic clientele.

Santa Monica's oldest restaurant, decorated with set pieces from the Mutiny on the Bounty.

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

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

Paranormal experiences in this hotel's room 217 led Stephen King to write "The Shining."

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

A multi-storied adobe complex has been inhabited for more than a thousand years.

These curious caverns have been home to mushrooms, gangsters, and disco.

An old soap company building now houses one of Minneapolis’s oldest independent non-profit art galleries.

The only arched bridge made of stone on the entire Mississippi River.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.

Combination beer garden and music venue in the heart of Wicker Park.

Once called the "Polish Gold Coast" it is an icon of the neighborhood that bears its same name.

"No writer ever gave more to a city and got back less.”

Beloved bar home to musicians of all eras and reputations.

A European-style bath house in Chicago.