Roadside oddities37.7578° N, 122.4399° W
San Francisco, CA
Two steep concrete slides designed in the 1970s are built into a neighborhood mini-park; cardboard is traditionally used to make the ride faster.
- Access
- Open to visitors
Roadside oddities in California
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Roadside oddities123
Suggest a stopGiant objects, odd monuments and things built for no clear reason.
- Roadside oddities40.2682° N, 123.8750° W
Myers Flat, CA
This living redwood contains a narrow automobile passage and sits among other old-school roadside attractions along the Avenue of the Giants.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.7144° N, 121.5103° W
Tulelake, CA
One of Lava Beds National Monument's largest lava-tube entrances, named for the pronghorn and bighorn skulls found on its floor. Ice persists on the lowest level year round. Stairs and railings reach the ice viewing platform, and a torch is essential.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities33.2580° N, 115.4646° W
Niland, CA
A volunteer-run open-air library serves the unconventional off-grid settlement of Slab City; conditions and staffing are informal, so visitors should be respectful and self-sufficient.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities32.7388° N, 117.1660° W
San Diego, CA
A narrow pedestrian suspension bridge built in 1912 sways above a residential canyon and feels unexpectedly remote inside the city.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities40.6860° N, 121.4189° W
Old Station, CA
A self-guided path descends into a dark lava tube formed by Hat Creek volcanic flows, with no artificial lighting inside.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities40.4377° N, 121.5358° W
Mineral, CA
Steam vents, boiling mud and sulfurous ground sit immediately beside Lassen's park road, exposing the still-active hydrothermal system beneath the volcano.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities32.8498° N, 117.2701° W
La Jolla, CA
A century-old tunnel and staircase descend from a storefront to a sea cave whose opening was said to resemble the cartoon character Sunny Jim.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities33.0486° N, 117.2939° W
Encinitas, CA
A mosaic of the Virgin of Guadalupe surfing began as unauthorized street art before community support led to its preservation and relocation.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities34.0408° N, 117.9494° W
La Puente, CA
Cars literally drive through a giant donut-shaped building to reach the service window at this surviving example of programmatic roadside architecture.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities33.2606° N, 115.4637° W
Niland, CA
A rough outdoor stage and performance space serves as Slab City's improvised community venue, especially on weekend nights during the cooler season.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.5220° N, 124.0305° W
Klamath, CA
A privately operated redwood with a vehicle tunnel offers another surviving example of the once-common drive-through-tree era of California tourism.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities41.5848° N, 124.0859° W
Klamath, CA
A classic redwood attraction combining giant trees, unusual forest displays, a canopy gondola and decades of roadside mythology on U.S. 101.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities35.6178° N, 117.3681° W
Trona, CA
More than 500 tufa spires rise from a dry lake basin, creating an otherworldly landscape frequently used for science-fiction filming.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities37.0099° N, 117.4498° W
Death Valley, CA
A broad volcanic explosion crater drops hundreds of feet below a rim reached directly from the park road.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities32.7081° N, 117.1461° W
San Diego, CA
An exuberant 1887 Queen Anne mansion built for musician and spiritualist Jesse Shepard contains stained glass, towers and rooms tied to San Diego's occult-tinged Victorian history.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities33.9387° N, 118.2409° W
Los Angeles, CA
Simon Rodia spent decades building seventeen interconnected towers from steel, mortar, broken tile, glass and found objects in his backyard.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities37.8085° N, 122.4402° W
San Francisco, CA
Stone pipes built into a Marina jetty amplify and transform the sound of waves, especially around favorable tides.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities34.1073° N, 117.3500° W
San Bernardino, CA
Guests sleep in concrete teepee-shaped motel rooms arranged around vintage cars at this 1950 Route 66 landmark. The architecture reflects mid-century roadside fantasy rather than authentic Indigenous housing and should be described accordingly.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Roadside oddities34.1709° N, 118.0574° W
Sierra Madre, CA
Sierra Madre’s enormous Chinese wistaria vine began as a one-gallon plant purchased by Alice Brugman in April 1894 and eventually spread across neighboring residential properties. Because the vine grows on private homes, travelers normally see it only during the city’s annual Wistaria Festival/open-house period rather than as a daily walk-up attraction.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities39.8814° N, 123.7526° W
Piercy, CA
Rooms carved into the base of a giant redwood create a tiny walk-in tree dwelling. The long-running Highway 101 attraction reopened to visitors in 2025.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Roadside oddities34.0065° N, 117.3393° W
Riverside, CA
Riverside’s giant concrete cup was built as advertising for the paper-cup factory that operated here under Lily-Tulip and later Sweetheart Cup; the adjacent plant produced cups from 1958 to 1997. The exact construction year of the monument is poorly documented, but the cup still stands behind a fence at the former industrial site and is best treated as a roadside photo stop.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities36.2049° N, 119.1053° W
Lindsay, CA
Lindsay’s giant concrete black olive originally stood at the local olive-packing cooperative, reflecting the town’s history as a major olive-processing center. After the plant closed it was rescued and moved to the former Olive Tree Inn around 1999–2000, and today travelers find it in the parking lot of the property now operated as a Super 8.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Roadside oddities33.6593° N, 118.0010° W
Huntington Beach, CA
Huntington Beach’s enormous surfboard was built for the Epic Big Board Ride on June 20, 2015, when 66 people successfully rode it and Guinness certified it as the world’s largest surfboard. The 42-foot board was subsequently placed on display at the International Surfing Museum, so visitors see it as part of the museum rather than as a freestanding roadside object.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed