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

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

Abandoned landscape once home to "the world's largest winery."

There is no trying to fall in love with this Star Wars fountain, you just do or do not.

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

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Thousands of crosses and markers for soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan blanket a California hillside.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

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

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

Deco Modern sculptures of the people of the Pacific, cast for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition.

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

A 90-acre park on former landfill that hosts an annual kite festival.

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.

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

A playground built by the kids that is a child's wonderland, and a helicopter parent's nightmare.

An abandoned convention space that has been left to the homeless and the radical.

International delicatessen has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 110 years.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

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

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.