Things to see in the Bay

This odd California folly seems like it was almost designed to accumulate urban legends.

An ominous concrete cube cuts a dystopian silhouette atop this California mountain.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

An abandoned, unfinished mansion on grounds strewn with lava rocks.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

Neither Spanish settlers nor anyone since has been able to tell who built these strange California rock walls.

The now-abandoned tunnels were built for the transcontinental railroad on the route where the first wagon train entered California.

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

San Francisco Bay's ghost town.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

A sudden forest of traditional Papua New Guinean art works is hidden in a corner of Stanford University.

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

Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.

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

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

Big gun installations, built over a massive cemetery, now abandoned & hidden in trees.

Guns that have been defending San Francisco since 1904.

Elephant seals and sea lions have turned the abandoned buildings on this island into their endangered love shack.

Historical trolley restoration and operation at History San Jose, Kelly Park.

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

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

Chevron maintains one “Standard” brand station per state so it doesn’t lose the trademark.

Approximately 250,000 people left homeless by the great earthquake and fires found shelter in Golden Gate Park.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

A popular tourist cave with a dark past.

Another of California's unused Cold War missile defense complexes has become a graffiti gallery.

The graffiti-covered remnants of a former triangulation station are balanced precariously on this California peak.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.

Collective dedicated to restoring steam engines.

Location of the most powerful laser in the world, and the potential birthplace of tiny stars.

A classically inspired temple in Redwood City.