A vista of the city and sea from atop the little-known viewing deck on an unassuming Columbus statue.

A beautiful but toxic fountain of mercury.

An early 20th-century bullring converted into a modern shopping center.

Common all over Japan, kōbans are small community police boxes, and now one is guarding one of L.A.’s megamalls.

This lighthouse has been guiding shipping into the Golden Gate since before the American Civil War.

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

This surreptitious shop is only open five hours per week.

A Looff creation in Santa Monica best described as “a California-Byzantine-Moorish-style fantasy.”

A second generation sun-powered marvel lights up the night.

A sign at the end of the Santa Monica Pier marks the traditional end of the legendary American highway.

Once strictly off-limits, this lower level housing curious and priceless vehicles of the Petersen Automotive Museum is now open to the public.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

World-famous, Pink's still manages to keep its prized cult fetish status.

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

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

A hidden gem, named after a San Franciscan icon, offers spectacular views of the Pacific Ocean.

This giant head is all that remains of a once proud statue that survived an earthquake but not a fall off of a wagon.

Art from the latest counter-culture; kids who dye their hair blue and believe the future will be a post-apocalyptic water world.

This grinning pup statue is all that's left of what was once a ubiquitous Bay Area diner chain.

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

The first fresco Diego Rivera painted in the United States can be found in the former San Francisco Stock Exchange.

The second building of its name to occupy this location might be the finest flatiron building in San Francisco.

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