A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.

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

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

This contorting sculpture is the tallest in San Francisco.

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

This painted marvel is San Francisco's 400-foot ode to urban biking.

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

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

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

This eatery transports diners to a place that no longer exists: East Germany.

The original place where water met land in the City by the Bay is outlined in brass.

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

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

Tenacious mummies survived dental problems, eternal entombment, and more than their fair share of devastating fires.

This shop and studio is dedicated to the art of the book, from letterpress to bookbinding.

An art collective teaching the more fiery, metal-y art forms.

With statues of Nelson Mandela and Harvey Milk this monument has been called the Mount Rushmore of California.

A massive ultra-modern church presents a science-fiction view of Catholicism's inclusive future.

A promotional sun clock on the site of San Francisco's great raceway.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

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