Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

One of few lasting examples of the brief octagon craze that developed into folly.

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

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

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

A roaring, awe-inspiring double cascade of icy water flows through woodland Oregon like something out of a Tolkien novel.

A "gravitational anomaly" located in the redwood forests just outside of Santa Cruz, California.

A library and museum dedicated to typography.

The giant pair of sexy legs sticking out the window of this costume store have become its main draw.

Though tiki culture has gone in and out of fashion, the Tonga Hut has always been flying the flag in Los Angeles.

A historic hotel that made a cameo in Hitchcock's classic film has no intention of letting guests forget its fame.

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

The oldest burial ground in the city, final resting place of city founders, Ohlone natives and murderers alike.

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.

Aqueducts have dramatically changed this old lake, now home to tufa towers and its very own species of tiny brine shrimp.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

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

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

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