The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

This giant shopping mall still holds signs of its automotive past.

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

A Roman-inspired temple once controlled half of San Francisco's waters.

A unique piece of graffiti offers a little slice of local history and mystery.

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

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Abandoned landscape once home to "the world's largest winery."

A B&B on a Victorian lighthouse station in 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.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

One of the oldest reform schools in the United States, home to wayward boys such as Merle Haggard, now abandoned.

The California capital city once stood 10 feet lower than it does today.

I Street Bridge is the heaviest swinging center bridge in the United States.

Pillars made of 700 pieces of luggage climb to the ceiling of Sacramento Airport's baggage claim.

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

The largest drain hole in the world.

A working miniature city designed to teach kids about safety and presumably city planning.

Rising out of miles of farmland, these buttes are sometimes called the world's smallest mountain range.

An optical illusion found amid a logged redwood forest.

Commonly referred to as the most photographed Victorian home in the United States.