7 of the Most Underrated Places to Visit in California
When you think of the must-visit places in California, you probably think of Yosemite, the Hollywood Sign or the Golden Gate Bridge. But this big state has plenty of obscure attractions that can hold their own against the big guns. Net credit has revealed the most underrated places to visit in California, and we’re adding them straight to our list.
There’s a castle built by an “outsider architect,” a graveyard of rusted warboats that have yet to be decommissioned, and a shop selling time travel supplies. Yes really. How did they find out which lesser-known places are still worth visiting?
They searched Atlas Obscura and found all the places in California that had fewer than a thousand Google reviews but had earned a rating of four stars or higher. The result is this new series of maps showing the most underrated places to visit in every region of California…
Most Underrated Places to Visit in California
1. China Flat Museum Bigfoot Collection
The museum itself may not be huge, but its encased assortment of ape-man artifacts gives it the feel of a Victorian cabinet of curiosities. Among other rarities, you can see preserved footprints of the mysterious creature and a giant wooden sculpture of his likeness. Then why not go out and try to find the ‘real’ thing?
2. The allosphere
The AlloSphere is a Fantastic Voyage-like variant on the planetarium concept. Instead of looking at the stars, scientists and visitors can stare at the 360-degree display system with 24 million pixels and experience the inside of a brain scan or other microscopic event.
The facility is located in the California Nanosystems Institute building at the University of California, Santa Barbara. It’s also one of the largest anechoic chambers in the world (which means it gets dead quiet when they turn off the amazing 512-channel sound system).
3. Folsom Prison Museum
This former prison is known as the prison where Johnny Cash recorded his famous live album in 1968. Now that it is ‘closed for business’, the prison retains an eerie feeling of yesteryear. Animatronic ‘puppet prisoners’ populate the cells and the museum is staffed entirely by former prison guards.
4. Mojave lava tube
At the Mojave Lava Tube, you can follow a 10,000-year-old trail of molten lava through tar-black tunnels naturally lit by hole-riddled ceiling beams. You really get to know the ancient history as you move your hands along the walls of solidified lava.
5. Malibu Hindu Temple
This is a unique opportunity to see a piece of authentic Hollywood history that looks like it was beamed in from the other side of the world. The Temple is cinematically cross-cultural and has appeared in both Hollywoods Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) and ‘Kollywood’ (Tamil) film Jeans (1998). It is open every day of the year for services, recitals and puja.
6. Hollywood Forever Cemetery
This may sound like a dreary place to visit, but it has all the pizzazz and glamor you’d expect from Tinsel Town. Showbiz names like Cecil B. DeMille, Johnny Ramone and Estelle Getty are among the “kitsch-but-respectful” gravestones. Every summer, films are projected on the wall of Rudolph Valentino’s mausoleum.
7. The glass beach
Until 1967, Fort Brag residents threw waste, such as appliances and vehicles, over the cliff to the shore. Every now and then they would throw a Molotov cocktail down to burn it and make more room. Years later (and after a clean-up operation), all that remains is a landscape of glass pebbles, worn smooth by the ocean waves.
Editor’s note: Some of these attractions are temporarily closed due to COVID-19. Please check in advance if you are planning a visit.
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