A temple devoted to inner esoteric mysteries located in a California commercial strip.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

A large instrument played by the wind.

A creepy steel gremlin has protected the Bay Bridge since 1989.

Masterful ceramic fountain and map of the Pacific Basin.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

Outside San Francisco lies a small clown cemetery and memorial.

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

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

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

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

Floating man-made island and upscale restaurant.

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

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

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

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

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

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

Barely visible foundations remain where Stow Lake’s “observatory” once welcomed visitors.

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

A whimsical antique shop with a strong air of mystery, filled with items from ages, and what feels like worlds, past.

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

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