A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

An enormous illuminated figure dances on the Las Vegas strip.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

A vast city of the dead, where the deceased outnumber the living by more than a million.

The final resting place of the Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

Floating man-made island and upscale restaurant.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

Once the fastest ship from San Francisco to Tahiti, the Galilee now lays in pieces in three different cities.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

A whimsical antique shop with a strong air of mystery, filled with items from ages, and what feels like worlds, past.

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

A famous alternative culture epicenter and where Joplin serenaded young hippies.

A favorite haunt of dinosaur loving children and hallucinogen loving hippies alike.

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

A library built during San Francisco's pioneer times is a student's retreat, bibliophile's sanctuary, and chess player's delight.