A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

A shining, cold, black organ lies in San Francisco's financial district.

The largest whiskey stash on the West Coast survived the 1906 fires--but not without heroic effort.

Noble beasts perhaps, but not the Emperor's dogs.

A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

Prone to disastrous fires, the city of San Francisco has the Guardian, a fireboat gifted by residents, to watch over them from the bay.

Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

These WWII-era murals were initially booed as a libelous portrayal of the American dream but have survived multiple attempts to have them destroyed.

A veteran Disney animator turned his gift for storytelling to a museum devoted to his love of a California city.

Wheels of chrome by the thousands adorn this California Historical Landmark.

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

One man's prolific, decade-long quest to turn trash into artistic treasure.

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

Handmade treasures from around the world.

A celebration of once forgotten materials.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.

Travelers exchange letters with woodland creatures at this mini post office.

The remains of a deserted steamboat sit rusting beside an old ferry pier and an abandoned train platform.

A private home built to resemble the shape of a microscopic creature.

The only museum of sake in the United States is nestled in an unlikely California college town.