Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

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

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

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

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

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

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

A hundred copies of Antony Gormley's naked body stare out across the water.

Much of what constituted mid-century Liverpool now litters a beach outside of town.