The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

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

A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

This residential door allows San Francisco muggles a glimpse at the wizarding world.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

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

A garden oasis filled with flowers mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare.

The oldest lawn bowling club in the United States.

San Francisco’s condensed garden of incredible plant growth.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

These WWII-era murals were initially booed as a libelous portrayal of the American dream but have survived multiple attempts to have them destroyed.

This one-block alleyway is stuffed with street art that is colorful, cultural, and intensely political.

A miniature view of the park, caught in time.

This 19th-century church is now a popular roller rink.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

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

Home to one of the world’s largest collections of model yachts.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

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

A monthly street "service" of handmade puppets and live original puppets, whose devotees profess has the power to change lives.

A hidden subterranean installation offers a view of the sky.

Join the circus for a few lessons to learn clowning, acrobatics, and Chinese contortion.

Gold Rush-era tombstones line the park's paths.