This tiny patch of arid sand sits in one of the greenest states in the United States.

The eccentric mansion of one the most popular horror authors of modern times.

The world's only international cryptozoology museum is host to an unrivaled collection of mysterious objects.

A Frankenstein blend of science and art allows one tree to produce 40 different types of stone fruit.

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

This surreptitious shop is only open five hours per week.

This one-block alleyway is stuffed with street art that is colorful, cultural, and intensely political.

The first AIDS memorial chapel in San Francisco and one of only a few in the U.S.

Home of modern dancer famously strangled by her own scarf.

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

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.

Over 315,000 preserved amphibians and reptiles in jars.

A speck of nature and art in one of San Francisco’s most notorious neighborhoods.

Join the circus for a few lessons to learn clowning, acrobatics, and Chinese contortion.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

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