The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

This subtle Berkeley paving stone actually marks off a lawless tube of air that extends into space.

Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

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

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

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

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

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

An art collective teaching the more fiery, metal-y art forms.

A massive ultra-modern church presents a science-fiction view of Catholicism's inclusive future.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

A peculiar mansion built by the troubled heir to the Winchester Rifle Company fortune.