Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

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

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

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

A century and a half of research in the sciences and natural history, still going strong.

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

Join the circus for a few lessons to learn clowning, acrobatics, and Chinese contortion.

A speck of nature and art in one of San Francisco’s most notorious neighborhoods.

Russian history in San Francisco.

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

A library built during San Francisco's pioneer times is a student's retreat, bibliophile's sanctuary, and chess player's delight.

The giant pair of sexy legs sticking out the window of this costume store have become its main draw.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Financial District stands a unique homage to the Mayan and Beaux Arts.

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

A modern mechanical planetary system, part of a 10,000 year clock.

The tea room that pushed the boundaries of adorable straight into...we can't find the words.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

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

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.