This giant shopping mall still holds signs of its automotive past.

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

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

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

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

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

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

Two mammoth statues inspired by equally tall tales lure tourists to this roadside attraction.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

The final resting place of a woman who never gave up on love.

Cows on a ranch are commonplace, scattered cow bones everywhere? Not so much.

California's oldest existing theater building hosted an impressive cast of celebrities, including hosting Mark Twain's first lecture.

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

This fully intact Neoclassical-Greek Revival style firehouse operated until 1938.

Hiding amid the largest camellia collection in the country lies a charming children's maze, donated by a secret admirer.

An unassuming grey box sitting on San Francisco's Pier 17 is a "sky diary" of the coastal city's temperamental weather.

'Cause the fence start shaking, the earth was quaking.

Special tunnels built so that frogs won't be killed when crossing the highway.

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

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

Life in this isolated, hilltop lighthouse was lonely, but it sure was lovely.

A favorite Paris bar for U.S. expats, including Gershwin, Hemingway, and James Bond.

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

One of few lasting examples of the brief octagon craze that developed into folly.