A rough granite monument marks the spot where Europeans first caught sight of the San Francisco Bay.

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

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.

This subtle Berkeley paving stone actually marks off a lawless tube of air that extends into space.

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

Where a staggering 747 ships were constructed during World War II.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

A large instrument played by the wind.

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

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

Antiques by the Bay.

Collective dedicated to restoring steam engines.

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

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

The peaceful gravesite of a rugged wild west gunman echoes the touching story of his last days.

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

Once the gateway to the utopian dream-village of a Civil War embalmer.

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.

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

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

An enormous artwork that colorfully celebrates over 150 years of US military achievements.