A former hardware store near Yerba Buena is the official home of California's history.

A shining, cold, black organ lies in San Francisco's financial district.

This residential door allows San Francisco muggles a glimpse at the wizarding world.

A mysterious painting of the self-declared Emperor of the United States watches over a local hof-brau.

A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

Adolph Sutro's little-known, geographically inaccurate, deprecated monument.

San Francisco's most expensive hotel suite includes a secret passageway rumored to have been used by JFK.

Art from the latest counter-culture; kids who dye their hair blue and believe the future will be a post-apocalyptic water world.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

With the touch of a button, you can read a randomly selected short story.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

In this century-old literary safehouse, print is alive and well.

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

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

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

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

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

A 140-year-old castle with underground caves hidden in San Francisco.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

This North Carolina store preserves a historic moment in America's movement for racial equality.

Her final resting place was intended to be modest and private, but the power of her popularity continues to draw visitors.

This Los Angeles animation studio is keeping the wonder of stop motion puppetry alive.