Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

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

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

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

A favorite haunt of dinosaur loving children and hallucinogen loving hippies alike.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

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

Its buzzing collection honors vibrator history.

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

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

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

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

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

A large instrument played by the wind.

A promotional sun clock on the site of San Francisco's great raceway.

The graffiti-covered remnants of a former triangulation station are balanced precariously on this California peak.

Amazing meticulous gardens of personal wood carvings, Hydrangea, Canna, and many other flowers.