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

Art in the form of a winding, man made crack in stone.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

The taxidermied remains of the "last wild grizzly bear in California" and of the symbol of the state of California.

A masterpiece in Golden Gate Park by virtue of the artist’s debt.

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

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.

Barely visible foundations remain where Stow Lake’s “observatory” once welcomed visitors.

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

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

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

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

A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

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

A hidden subterranean installation offers a view of the sky.

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

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

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

A museum befitting the city responsible for supplying the majority of the world's LSD.

Bring your own cardboard to the slippery slopes of concrete hidden in a neighborhood park.

The neighborhood church casts a breast-shaped shadow that locals have come to call the “two o’clock titty.”

Chevron maintains one “Standard” brand station per state so it doesn’t lose the trademark.

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