A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

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

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

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

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

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

This (occupied) house is 10 feet wide and full of spite.

With statues of Nelson Mandela and Harvey Milk this monument has been called the Mount Rushmore of California.

This mysterious series of teeny guerrilla installations sheds a whimsical light on street art in Oakland.

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

An art collective teaching the more fiery, metal-y art forms.

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

A shape-shifting buy-sell-trade bookstore, born to Beatnik Era spirit.

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

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

A store that sells all manner of bones, insects, and animal curiosities.

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.

This 19th century train workshop is a treasure trove of railroad history.

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

A tribute to the life and work of the beloved "Peanuts" cartoonist.

One of the most scenic stretches of road in America winds between some of the country's oldest trees.

This massive redwood tree has a hole in the base big enough to drive through.