A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

San Francisco's first World's Fair, dedicated to the wonders of California.

A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

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

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

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

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

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

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

The largest whiskey stash on the West Coast survived the 1906 fires--but not without heroic effort.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

A modern mechanical planetary system, part of a 10,000 year clock.

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

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

This turn of the century masterpiece has a mysterious goaty interloper.

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

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

27-room home built with the fortune of a sugar magnate.

A library built during San Francisco's pioneer times is a student's retreat, bibliophile's sanctuary, and chess player's delight.

The first AIDS memorial chapel in San Francisco and one of only a few in the U.S.

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

Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Financial District stands a unique homage to the Mayan and Beaux Arts.