A promotional sun clock on the site of San Francisco's great raceway.

This 19th-century church is now a popular roller rink.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

The restored and active Victorian-era final resting place of San Francisco.

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

The one-time watch house for incoming ships at the Golden Gate now stands abandoned and hidden in trees.

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

A museum befitting the city responsible for supplying the majority of the world's LSD.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

This New Orleans boutique and nursery specializes in rare flora, with a focus on carnivorous plants.

This Art Deco airport was once deemed “the air hub of the Americas.”

The first patented shaved-ice machine heralded a snowy wonderland of iced treats at a favorite New Orleans summer shack.

It's clear this abandoned Art Deco gem was no ordinary cleaners.

Parts of the civil rights movement unfolded in this historic eatery, helmed by the "Queen of Creole Cuisine."

This unique shop is full of memento mori art, antique medical equipment, secret society paraphernalia, and historical relics.