Sculptor Edmund Kara's Phoenix Bird, an impressionistic take on the mythical creature reborn in fire, now seems prophetic. Carved in 1963 from a redwood trunk, the five-foot sculpture perches above the terrace at Nepenthe, a famed restaurant and shop on Highway 1 in Big Sur, Calif. The coastal town is now celebrating its own rebirth after last summer's wildfires burned 58 buildings and 163,000 acres. nepenthebigsur.com.