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

With the touch of a button, you can read a randomly selected short story.

Created in 1972, the famous sculptor's intricately detailed monument to San Francisco is overflowing with city landmarks.

An art supply shop holds the secrets of this quiet neighborhood's raucous Barbary Coast past.

Appropriation-friendly collection of books, periodicals, and more.

In this century-old literary safehouse, print is alive and well.

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

Noble beasts perhaps, but not the Emperor's dogs.

A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

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

A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

Where a staggering 747 ships were constructed during World War II.

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

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

This shop and studio is dedicated to the art of the book, from letterpress to bookbinding.

The largest drain hole in the world.

A rococo retro-futurist future-rustic vernacular between yesterday’s tomorrow and the future that never was.

A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

Prone to disastrous fires, the city of San Francisco has the Guardian, a fireboat gifted by residents, to watch over them from the bay.

The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

A library and museum dedicated to typography.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

An enormous illuminated figure dances on the Las Vegas strip.