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

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

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

Half of a house.

27-room home built with the fortune of a sugar magnate.

A brooding mansion of clinker brick stands out among the Victorian houses of Pacific Heights.

One of few lasting examples of the brief octagon craze that developed into folly.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

Floating man-made island and upscale restaurant.

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

Faceless white figures loom over the city from the rooftop.

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

A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

Prone to disastrous fires, the city of San Francisco has the Guardian, a fireboat gifted by residents, to watch over them from the bay.

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

The largest whiskey stash on the West Coast survived the 1906 fires--but not without heroic effort.

Noble beasts perhaps, but not the Emperor's dogs.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

Early prototype for Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

A library built during San Francisco's pioneer times is a student's retreat, bibliophile's sanctuary, and chess player's delight.

Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.