Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

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

A library built during San Francisco's pioneer times is a student's retreat, bibliophile's sanctuary, and chess player's delight.

San Francisco's most expensive hotel suite includes a secret passageway rumored to have been used by JFK.

Longtime headquarters of controversial boys' club for the world's wealthiest and most powerful.

A walk down memory lane in the heart of one of San Francisco's most notorious neighborhoods.

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

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

Tenacious mummies survived dental problems, eternal entombment, and more than their fair share of devastating fires.

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

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

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

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.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

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

A 300-ship graveyard, with a few still visible at low tide.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

A nondescript building that's been functioning as a speakeasy for nearly a century and a half.

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.

A favorite haunt of dinosaur loving children and hallucinogen loving hippies alike.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.