By Karen Sprinkles
If there is one place that can live up to everybody's expectations for off-beat adventures and unusual attractions,
Los Angeles is the place. From macabre and sensational to downright odd, Los Angeles plays host to an array of off-the-wall sites that might leave you scratching your head in disbelief, but will never fail to entertain.
Paramount Ranch
The backdrop for some of Hollywood's classic Western movies, Paramount Ranch has replicated Tombstone, Dodge City, Laredo and the like for decades. Still standing at the park's entry, a façade for Western town continues to be used for TV and movie shoots. Hacienda Trail leads past the site where CBS built a homestead for "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman." Or hike along the trails through Malibu Creek State Park.
Paramount Ranch
2903 Cornell Road
Agoura Hills, CA
(818) 597-9192
www.lamountains.com/parks
Gibbon Conservation Center
The only facility in the world devoted exclusively to the endangered gibbon, Gibbon Conservation Center houses nearly 40 of these rare apes. Several mated pairs have produced offspring, helping to contribute to the world's captive gibbon population. Educational tours are available to students and groups. Admission fees help support the work of this nonprofit organization.
Gibbon Conservation Center
19100 Esquerra Rd.
Santa Clarita, CA
(661) 296-2737
www.gibboncenter.org
Museum of Jurassic Technology
Weirdness is the operative word at this museum of the absurd, where everything from mobile-park dioramas to objects made entirely of butterfly wing scales comprises this strange world of curios, artifacts and more. If you look closely, you will even find a micro-miniature sculpture of the Pope carved from a single human hair and placed within the eye of a needle.
Museum of Jurassic Technology
9341 Venice Blvd.
Culver City, CA
(310) 836-6131
www.mjt.org/
Dearly Departed Tours
Ride the "Tomb Buggy" to infamous LA sites exposing the seedy underbelly of the City of Angels. During the 3-hour "Hollywood's Tragical History Tour," your guide will drive you past dozens of sites where celebrity scandal and death once made headlines. The tour includes drivebys of places where such stars as River Phoenix, Bela Lugosi and Michael Jackson took their last breaths.
(800) 979-3370
www.dearlydepartedtours.com
About the Author:
Karen Sprinkles has been a freelance writer since 1988. She's currently the managing editor of a luxury home magazine and has written for regional newspapers and magazines. Sprinkles received the Award of Excellence from the Hawaii Book Publishers Association for "The Hawaii Home Book," which reached No. 1 on the Hawaii bestsellers list. She earned a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California.
