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

The last used bookstore in Downtown San Francisco is one of the smallest bookstores just about anywhere.

San Francisco's most expensive hotel suite includes a secret passageway rumored to have been used by JFK.

One of the oldest producers of hand-folded fortune cookies still uses its original secret recipe.

One of few lasting examples of the brief octagon craze that developed into folly.

Built in 1906, this unique building was the first Hindu temple in the United States.

Wander down a side street dedicated to one of the members of the Beat Generation.

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

This teeny-tiny park built by a San Francisco man in 1962 is mostly stairs.

America's oldest Italian restaurant is a San Francisco institution.

The only visible piece of San Francisco's most famous shipwreck.

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

A unique and poignant sidewalk mural commemorates the deaths of two striking workers.

This residential door allows San Francisco muggles a glimpse at the wizarding world.

Under the right circumstances, this waterfall in Yosemite briefly turns a luminescent fiery orange.

A charming desert roadside bakery that produces 10 times more bread daily than it has residents in its town.

The first life claimed by this record-breaking peak wasn't lost to exposure or a fall, but rather lightning.

This ramshackle ghost town is comprised of mining-era buildings collected from around the region.

Thousands of turbines whir at the origin of North American wind power.

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

After starting as a whimsical tourist attraction that eventually found its way to ruin, these renovated canals offer a lush and exotic locale on the Pacific Coast.

An historic and oft-filmed spot for musclebound iron pumpers on the Pacific coast.

A giant donut stands as a popular symbol of Los Angeles iconography.

This quirky UFO-shaped curiosity is often mistaken for the airport’s control tower.