I’ve been here and there, but not everywhere, and there is nothing I enjoy more than the thrill of discovery. The feeling of unearthing and experiencing a sight in my own backyard (that is, in or near the city where I live) is as magical as finding prince charming. It’s like going outside in the morning to move your car before street sweeping and finding a unicorn instead. A unicorn with a Starbucks gift card and an iPod hookup. Magical like that.

I still remember how wide-eyed with wonderment I was the first time I went to Olvera Street in L.A. – The lights, the grapevines overhead, the gypsy-like booths, the music, the colors, and of course the churros. It was almost overwhelming, this notion that there was literally an entire thriving colony of untapped resources teeming just under my limited scope.

Having not explored much of the downtown area at that time in my life, the idea that such a place existed in a city I’d written off as dirty and congested very nearly ripped my preconceived notions apart. It left them exposed – awaiting how my paradigms might be shifted with other discoveries in the coming years. It was around that time that I started to feel a sterling affection for the City of Angels – and what I might find there. In the intervening years I’ve found quite a few under-the-radar gems in and around Los Angeles County, from Fisherman’s Market for the catch of the day, ABC dim sum for the pork doughnuts, to Topanga Canyon with its shaded, sleepy villages.

However, what’s so great about Los Angeles is its proximity to other cities, other places, other sights and sounds. Within a four hour (or less) drive, the possibility exists to encounter any number of diverse experiences, from the prehistoric graveyard of the desert to the lushly arthritic landscape of the Central Coast. It’s in these often alien-like locales that I’ve discovered some of the most unusual sights Southern California has to offer. So without further ado, fill up your gas tanks, aficionados of the outré, and let’s see what weird or otherwise whacky sights the Golden State has to offer, shall we?

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