A 1920s speakeasy that had rum runners racing up and down the shores of California.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

Once close to extinction, there is no shortage of elephant seals on the beaches of Año Nuevo State Park.

The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

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

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

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

Every year, over 25,000 monarchs overwinter in Pacific Grove.

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

Four miles of pipelines form the model of still-functioning retro-tech efficiency.

A hidden world of exotic succulents and cacti.

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

It's not your typical library, memorial, or book store.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

This quaint archive of the silent era preserves and pays homage to a seminal moment in film history.

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

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

A vast city of the dead, where the deceased outnumber the living by more than a million.

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

The rusting remains of the largest assembled WWII fleet on the West Coast.

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