A famous alternative culture epicenter and where Joplin serenaded young hippies.

The giant pair of sexy legs sticking out the window of this costume store have become its main draw.

This mysterious series of teeny guerrilla installations sheds a whimsical light on street art in Oakland.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

Since 1973, this block has been home to the most concentrated collection of murals in San Francisco.

Antiques by the Bay.

A promotional sun clock on the site of San Francisco's great raceway.

Radioactivity still cause for concern at this urban explorer's paradise.

A rough granite monument marks the spot where Europeans first caught sight of the San Francisco Bay.

A 1920s speakeasy that had rum runners racing up and down the shores of California.

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco Bay's ghost town.

One of the largest free-standing structures ever built, this dirigible hangar is now simply a giant skeleton.

The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

Haunting and beautiful trees, doomed to die.

The stately birthplace of California's statehood.

This remarkably simple jail went over a century without an escape.

A tree grown from astronaut seeds which were exposed to cosmic rays.

An old whaling station now serves to give the public a look at the commercial whaling industry, no longer a part of Monterey's economy.

The first safe in this California town had to hold all the gold.