Weird history34.1564° N, 116.4986° W
Pioneertown, CA
Built in the 1940s as a working Western movie set that doubled as a real town, its dirt main street still preserves false-front buildings and Old West atmosphere.
- Access
- Open to visitors
Weird history in California
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Weird history66
Suggest a stopReal events too strange to have made the textbook.
- Weird history36.3050° N, 121.8989° W
Big Sur, CA
A historic lighthouse complex sits atop a volcanic rock rising abruptly from the Big Sur coast and can only be entered on scheduled guided tours.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.8025° N, 122.4673° W
San Francisco, CA
Tiny homemade markers commemorate generations of military families' pets beneath the Presidio's elevated roadway. Treat it as a cemetery and remain within public access.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history38.3611° N, 120.9358° W
Ione, CA
The Romanesque former Preston School of Industry juvenile institution now opens for scheduled history tours, events and selected paranormal programs.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.9498° N, 120.4162° W
Jamestown, CA
Historic steam locomotives, a working roundhouse and railroad shops preserve the Sierra Railway complex used in countless film and television productions.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history38.5637° N, 121.5007° W
Sacramento, CA
The city's oldest municipal cemetery preserves elaborate nineteenth-century monuments, pioneer graves and garden-style burial plots. Visit respectfully during posted hours.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.7807° N, 122.4571° W
San Francisco, CA
A copper-domed nineteenth-century columbarium contains tiers of ornate cremation niches in one of the city's few surviving purpose-built structures of its kind.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history40.5963° N, 122.4950° W
Shasta, CA
Brick ruins, a preserved courthouse and traces of a Gold Rush business district survive in what was once the major mining-era town of Shasta.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history35.5977° N, 118.4916° W
Bodfish, CA
More than twenty historic structures rescued from abandoned Kern Valley mining camps since the 1970s. The Corlew family bought the property in 1988, restored it and reopened in 1992. Now a small museum and film location with posted daily hours that depend on the weather.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history36.4367° N, 117.1542° W
Death Valley, CA
Foundations and mining remnants mark a short-lived Death Valley gold town reached by an unpaved road; conditions and closures should be checked before travel.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.8087° N, 122.4069° W
San Francisco, CA
One of the last surviving operational Liberty ships from World War II is preserved as a floating museum with its massive engine spaces intact.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.7801° N, 122.5138° W
San Francisco, CA
Concrete foundations and seawater pools are all that remain of Adolph Sutro's enormous 1890s indoor swimming complex at Lands End.
- Access
- Open to visitors
- Weird history35.0426° N, 117.6798° W
Boron, CA
A visitor center on the rim of an active borax mine overlooks one of the world's largest borate deposits and explains the mineral's industrial history.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.7727° N, 122.3029° W
Alameda, CA
A World War II aircraft carrier that later recovered Apollo spacecraft now operates as a sprawling museum ship with its own long-running paranormal reputation.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history37.8100° N, 122.4164° W
San Francisco, CA
A World War II submarine remains afloat at Fisherman's Wharf as a museum whose cramped compartments can be explored on self-guided visits.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history32.7285° N, 117.2164° W
San Diego, CA
This two-thirds-scale concrete destroyer escort, nicknamed USS Neversail, trained Navy recruits on dry land and remains at Liberty Station.
- Access
- Roadside, no entry
- Weird history34.9049° N, 117.0243° W
Barstow, CA
Railroad equipment, locomotives and artifacts fill indoor and outdoor spaces beside the historic Barstow Harvey House.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed
- Weird history36.2460° N, 117.0767° W
Death Valley, CA
Ten beehive-shaped stone kilns stand almost perfectly preserved high in the Panamint Range, where they once produced charcoal for nearby mines.
- Access
- Seasonal or ticketed