This Austrian museum celebrates the work of famous forgers and their inimitable imitations.

When it opened during the final years of the embargo, all the drinks and cigars were free.

The institution is sitting on a goldmine of 21,000 paints, varnishes, pigments, and primers preserved for posterity.

The only National Monument ever to go missing for nearly 50 years then resurface in a dump.

The beloved statue at the National Academy of Sciences is oh so inviting to sit on.

A nostalgic bibliographic gem.

During the Industrial Revolution this “Temple of Invention” was full of intricate miniature machines and gadgets.

One of the dwarven trees dates back to 1625 and survived the Hiroshima bombing.

Since 1973, this block has been home to the most concentrated collection of murals in San Francisco.

This shop and studio is dedicated to the art of the book, from letterpress to bookbinding.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

The oldest burial ground in the city, final resting place of city founders, Ohlone natives and murderers alike.

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

A pair of slides and a tree-lined stair corridor have been an urban oasis for nearly 40 years.

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

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

This hidden library of physiological ephemera contains centuries worth of knowledge on the vim and viscera of the human body.

The former hotel where Tesla invented the radio.

Unique antiquarian shop specializing in globes, maps, and prints.

A hands-on traveling collection of the innovative devices of yesteryear.

The world’s oldest and biggest bookstore stocking only mystery, crime fiction, espionage, and thrillers.

Hidden in an ordinary Midtown building is a one-room museum dedicated to the greatest escape artist.

This little museum is built on a theater that was once a wildly elaborate speakeasy.