The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.

A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

This antique shop specializes in the history of print and design.

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

A historic hotel that made a cameo in Hitchcock's classic film has no intention of letting guests forget its fame.

A walk down memory lane in the heart of one of San Francisco's most notorious neighborhoods.

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

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

This museum explores the history of the book, from scrolls to mass-produced objects through tools, stories, and massive cast-iron binding machinery (some of it operational).

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

The first fresco Diego Rivera painted in the United States can be found in the former San Francisco Stock Exchange.

The last used bookstore in Downtown San Francisco is one of the smallest bookstores just about anywhere.

A hotel and restaurant serving as the mecca of kitsch.

Thousands of migrating monarchs overwinter clustered amongst the eucalyptus trees.

This house is a mosaic of tiled artwork sourced from local artists.

Happy harbor seals frolic and snooze on this warm, sandy stretch of coast.

Honoring the famed folktale author, this California museum looks like it belongs in the Black Forest.

The last holdout of a pre-Civil War rebel who took the matter of slavery into his own hands.

Marta Becket's hand-painted theater in the desert.

This unlicensed collection of fast-food memorabilia sits on the site of the first ever McDonald's restaurant.

The curious underground history of keeping Paris clean.

The water-powered carriages are long gone, but for over a century this funicular railway has been the fastest route to the highest point in Paris.

The history of radiation is on safe display at the foot of a radiation science laboratory.