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

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

A whimsical antique shop with a strong air of mystery, filled with items from ages, and what feels like worlds, past.

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

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

After serving in World War II and picking up Apollo astronauts, this aircraft carrier has been turned into a museum overlooking the San Francisco Bay.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

Antiques by the Bay.

An abandoned, unfinished mansion on grounds strewn with lava rocks.

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

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.

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

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

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

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

A playground built by the kids that is a child's wonderland, and a helicopter parent's nightmare.

A unique market that brings together various goods and cultures.

From buttons to beads, flounces to fripperies, this textile museum and shop honors the history of needlework.

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

Where a staggering 747 ships were constructed during World War II.

A porcelain company's former dumping ground, completely covered in pieces of collectible ceramics.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.