The taxidermied remains of the "last wild grizzly bear in California" and of the symbol of the state of California.

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

Over 315,000 preserved amphibians and reptiles in jars.

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

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

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

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

The tea room that pushed the boundaries of adorable straight into...we can't find the words.

Half of a house.

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

Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.

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

This odd little museum holds exhibits on everything from blacksmith equipment to hair jewelry.

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

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

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

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

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

This graffiti-covered bridge is the quintessential vision of a place for disillusioned youth to escape the complexities of burgeoning adulthood.

A store that sells all manner of bones, insects, and animal curiosities.

Wool processing mill in an unlikely location.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.