California - Atlas Obscura
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Share Your Art to Win a Dream Trip to California

We’re calling all kids—and families—to paint a picture of their California Dream.
List

California Dream: Art Show Inspiration

Wondrous places in California to awaken your inner artist.
Los Angeles, California

Cahuenga Building

This bank is widely believed to be the inspiration for the offices of Philip Marlowe, the hardboiled detective featured in a number of Raymond Chandler's stories.
San Diego, California

Yiddishland California

The Yiddish language stages a renaissance in a shtetl-inspired cultural center on the San Diego coast.
List

9 Marvelous Museums in California for the Curious Kid

The museums of the Golden State are where learning is effortless and ‘interactive’ is an understatement.
Crescent City, California

Battery Point Light

This 19th-century museum inside of a lighthouse is only accessible during low tide.
Video

A Phoenix Made From 18,000 Keys Rises From the Ashes of a Wildfire

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quarantine

How to Quarantine in a Ghost Town

Cerro Gordo has been abandoned since 1957. Now one man is social distancing there by himself.
Matthew Taub April 29, 2020
San Francisco, California

'The Allegory of California'

The first fresco Diego Rivera painted in the United States can be found in the former San Francisco Stock Exchange.
Sacramento, California

Corti Brothers Grocery

The last of a gourmet supermarket chain, this store helped spark California's Food Revolution.
San Bernardino, California

Mitla Cafe

The Route 66 institution that inspired Taco Bell also served as an important headquarters for Mexican-American social movements.
Permanently Closed
San Francisco, California

Benkyodo

This Japanese treats shop may have been the first business to mass-produce fortune cookies in the United States.
trees

The Cypress That May Have Inspired Dr. Seuss's 'The Lorax' Has Toppled Down

Now there's nothing left of its whimsical crown.
Evan Nicole Brown June 17, 2019
deserts

Before the Music Festival, Coachella Valley Promoted Itself With an Arabian Fantasy

Celebrating the local date industry involved a Queen Scheherazade beauty pageant, vendors in veils, and a Taj Mahal.
Rohini Chaki April 16, 2019
fires

Last Year’s Severe Wildfires May Intensify a Spring Wildflower ‘Superbloom’

Fire followed by rain is the recipe for colorful fields and canyons.
Evan Nicole Brown February 7, 2019
Los Angeles, California

High Tower Elevator

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

Hollywood Sculpture Garden

This collector's home is a constant work in progress.
maps

The Cowboy Cartographer Who Loved California

Jo Mora poured the state's whole history—and his own life—into his incredibly detailed, whimsical maps.
Cara Giaimo August 30, 2018