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

A quiet nook at the top of a little-known hilltop park named after California's first poet laureate.

These subterranean storage areas hold emergency water reserves.

This painted marvel is San Francisco's 400-foot ode to urban biking.

A monumental cross hides in the trees in Golden Gate Park.

This grinning pup statue is all that's left of what was once a ubiquitous Bay Area diner chain.

A tribute to the artist and activist who created the rainbow pride flag.

Sitting atop San Francisco's tallest hill, a cross honors the victims of the Armenian genocide.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

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

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

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

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

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

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.

Get lost in this haunting fairytale art walk through a man-made eucalyptus grove.

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

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

A labyrinth of ancient tunnels hidden below the city holds the ruins of 2,500 years of history.

This shining multicolored metro station deep under Naples is said to be the most beautiful in Europe.

Dug as a secret royal escape route, the tunnel became a wartime bomb shelter and dumping ground for vintage cars.

This millstone-topped marker details the history of a mill that served as a landmark for both Union and Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War.