The Atlas Obscura Guide To

San Francisco

163 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in San Francisco, California

Unusual
Attractions
in San Francisco

The Wave Organ, San Francisco Bay

San Francisco, California

The Wave Organ

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

37.8085, -122.4398

Added by mbison

San Francisco, California

Secret Tiled Staircase

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

37.7563, -122.4735

Added by rebeccaclara

San Francisco, California

Seward Street Slides

Bring your own cardboard to the slippery slopes of concrete hidden in a neighborhood park.

37.7576, -122.4400

Added by Annetta Black

Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze.

San Francisco, California

Magowan's Infinite Mirror Maze

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

37.8100, -122.4104

Added by GuttersnipeRebecca

Underground fresh water cisterns

San Francisco, California

Albion Castle

A 140-year-old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.

37.7315, -122.3756

Added by Annetta Black

Alcatraz from the Bay 2012

San Francisco, California

Alcatraz Island

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

37.8267, -122.4230

Added by AllisonEng

(Audium press photo)

San Francisco, California

Audium-Theatre of Sound-Sculptured Space

Only theater in the world constructed specifically for sound movement.

37.7883, -122.4239

San Francisco, California

Labyrinth at Land’s End

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

37.7880, -122.5058

Added by Annetta Black

See All 163 Things to Do in San Francisco See All 163 Places

Atlas Obscura Trips

Dark Skies, Desert Beasts: A Night Photography Workshop in Borrego Springs, California

May 2—May 5, 2019

Journey deep into the desert of Southern California to explore and photograph the Dark Sky Sculptural Oasis of Borrego Springs.

Unique
Food & Drink
in San Francisco

It's It

Gastro Obscura

It's It

This classic San Franciscan ice cream sandwich is it, isn't it?

Gastro Obscura

Added by rachelrummel

Sourdough Starter

Gastro Obscura

Ingredients & Condiments

Sourdough Starter

A century-old organism creates some of the world's best bread.

Gastro Obscura

Added by Ike Allen

Are we missing a unique food or drink in San Francisco?

Explore San Francisco, California

San Francisco Leaderboard

Places Added

Places Edited

Places Visited

Recent San Francisco Activity

caswans4ever wants to go to Secret Tiled Staircase

CW5 has been to Lincoln Park

CW5 has been to Camera Obscura & Holograph Collection

alexandrasimutina wants to go to The Parrots of Telegraph Hill

alexandrasimutina wants to go to Ruins of the Sutro Baths

Stories
About San Francisco

A late-in-life photo of Mary Jane Rathbun.

Remembering 'Brownie Mary,' San Francisco's Marijuana Pioneer

She baked thousands of pot brownies for AIDS patients.

A view of the plaza in front of the Burger King.

Why a San Francisco Burger King Blasts Classical Music Day and Night

It's not meant to be pleasant.

A dynamite blasts in front of the damaged City Hall.

Lost Footage Filmed After the 1906 San Francisco Quake Finally Gets a Premiere

The scenes, shown in a silent-film museum, provide a new glimpse of the earthquake's aftermath.

by Christina Ayele Djossa

A group of men prepares to butcher Galapagos tortoises.*

Why Gold Rush Miners Imported Sea Turtles

Starving settlers ushered in a craze and decimated surrounding lands.

February 13, 2018

You can eat inside the gingerbread, but you can't eat the gingerbread.

Building a Life-Sized Gingerbread House Takes Over 10,000 Cookie Bricks

To be ready by Christmas, you better start baking in August.

December 14, 2017

Photographer Blaine Dixon befriended activist Pat Carey, who was, he says, "a tireless Mother Teresa to the runaway teens" of the area in the late 1970s and early 1980s. This image, of three men in makeshift loincloths on Polk Street, dates from 1980.

See Two Decades of San Francisco’s Wildest Queer Halloween Parties

The rise and demise of the night of the living dead.

by Natasha Frost

October 16, 2017

Emperor Norton, during his reign.

A New Map Tracks the Life of San Francisco's Emperor Norton

Walking tour, anyone?

by Sarah Laskow

February 21, 1985: The first MacWorld at Brooks Hall in San Francisco.

How San Francisco Chronicled Its Own Tech Boom

A look back at Silicon Valley's adolescence.

by Anika Burgess

Lists Featuring
San Francisco

Like Us on Facebook