San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

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

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

Antiques by the Bay.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

An abandoned convention space that has been left to the homeless and the radical.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.

Skulls from the plague of 1656 and World War II bombings are united by a cult dedicated to caring for the ancient dead.

Ancient snack bar of the Roman Empire re-opened.

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

A mysterious chasm in the heart of the ancient Roman Forum, the Lacus Curtius was once believed to be a gateway to hell.

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.