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

Faceless white figures loom over the city from the rooftop.

A shining, cold, black organ lies in San Francisco's financial district.

A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

This tall and trim architectural oddity is one of the skinniest buildings in San Francisco.

A rococo retro-futurist future-rustic vernacular between yesterday’s tomorrow and the future that never was.

A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

A modern frieze of ancient Grecian mythological figures playing a national pastime.

The original place where water met land in the City by the Bay is outlined in brass.

The randomness of this wall of lava lamps helps encrypt up to 10 percent of the internet.

Get lost in this haunting fairytale art walk through a man-made eucalyptus grove.

Beneath the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge is the “Gibraltar of the West Coast,” a fort built to protect the San Francisco Bay from naval attack.

Under the shadow of its towering parent tree, a rare specimen of sequoia produces ghostly white leaves.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

Olfactory delights in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens.

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

San Francisco's first World's Fair, dedicated to the wonders of California.

An elaborate gift from Claus Spreckels is now a piece of San Francisco history.

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

Over 315,000 preserved amphibians and reptiles in jars.

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

San Francisco’s condensed garden of incredible plant growth.

Alleyway plaque commemorating the death of a fictional character in The Maltese Falcon, not far from the author's home.

This antique shop specializes in the history of print and design.