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

Bring your own cardboard to the slippery slopes of concrete hidden in a neighborhood park.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

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

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

This one-block alleyway is stuffed with street art that is colorful, cultural, and intensely political.

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

Cemetery featuring rare glass-fronted columbarium.

The final resting place of up to 6,000 Confederate soldiers, the largest mass grave in the Western Hemisphere.

This unauthorized stone mermaid was secretly carved out of public stone before being permanently preserved.

Beloved bar home to musicians of all eras and reputations.

A giant bronze coil of feces is both a tribute to doggie defecation and a reminder to pick it up.

A monument to the art of slicing people open.

A display of magnificent stained glass windows is the first exhibit of its kind.

This awkward aquarium sculpture is one of the strangest statues in Chicago.

Years of archaeology, just chillin' by the water cooler.

The palatial McDonald's that inspired Wesley Willis.

A century-old network of freight tunnels underneath the city's historic business district.

A goddess-topped water fountain in Chicago was created thanks to the dreams of a thirsty newsboy.

Illegal drag racing two stories beneath Chicago’s streets.

The twin towers in this Chicago fountain use 50 foot tall video screens to spit on people.

This massive stained-glass masterpiece is thought to be the largest Tiffany dome in existence.

A spectacular remnant of an Adler and Sullivan masterpiece that was destroyed in 1972.

Once at the center of U.S. finance, the historic Trading Room was meticulously recreated piece by piece and rebuilt in the Art Institute.