Beneath the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge is the “Gibraltar of the West Coast,” a fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from naval attack.

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

The neighborhood church casts a breast-shaped shadow that locals have come to call the “two o’clock titty.”

These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

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

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

A hidden gem, named after a San Franciscan icon, offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

Big gun installations, built over a massive cemetery, now abandoned & hidden in trees.

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

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

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

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

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

Tokyo’s only Vaudeville-cuckoo clock–steampunk-Victorian curio cabinet time piece.

This quirky collection of furniture also happens to be a public art installation.

This enormous monument is one of the most iconic structures in Tokyo, rudely nicknamed "The Golden Turd."

An enormous pair of straw sandals woven in the traditional way—to keep demons at bay.

A 20-meter (65-foot) robot towers over Tokyo Bay.