Elephant seals and sea lions have turned the abandoned buildings on this island into their endangered love shack.

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

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

The one-time watch house for incoming ships at the Golden Gate now stands abandoned and hidden in trees.

A 300-ship graveyard, with a few still visible at low tide.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

Once the largest windmill outside of Holland, with enormous 114 foot sails.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A century and a half of research in the sciences and natural history, still going strong.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

Thousands of crosses and markers for soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan blanket a California hillside.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.

The headquarters of a secretive order is also a beautifully-designed park.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

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

This iconic L.A. bookshop is housed in an abandoned bank—both symbolic and chic.