This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

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

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

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

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

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

The rusting remains of the largest assembled WWII fleet on the West Coast.

This former boomtown "island" is now submerged below Folsom Lake.

This museum looks at the history of one of America's most famous prisons and most beloved albums.

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

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

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