Built in 1906, this unique building was the first Hindu temple in the United States.

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.

A historic hotel that made a cameo in Hitchcock's classic film has no intention of letting guests forget its fame.

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

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

Russian history in San Francisco.

Half of a house.

A brooding mansion of clinker brick stands out among the Victorian houses of Pacific Heights.

An invitation-only museum of items natural and bizarre, arcane and exotic.

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

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

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

Gold Rush-era tombstones line the park's paths.

The programmatic glory of LA's giant whiskey barrel building has become an upscale reminder of the city's kitschy roadside past.

Discover for yourself what Herb Caen referred to as "the best kept secret in the Bay Area."

This infamous prison has a store where you can buy goods crafted by incarcerated people.

Across Ring Mountain is a vast collection of Native American petroglyphs unique to the region.

A giant toy jack made of numerous welded-together fire hydrants.

This 38-drawer structure claims the superlative title, but it isn't the world's only giant filing cabinet.

Tour the world's largest deep-hole dimension granite quarry, where you can view the plant where gravestones are made and roll a ball down the outdoor granite bowling alley.

The "original web site," this farm in Northern Vermont encourages orb-weaver spiders to build their daily webs, and then sells the preserved masterpieces.

This "common-as-dirt" museum celebrates the glory of normalcy.

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.