Places ephemeral epiphany Wants to Go

The site of the first couple's first kiss is commemorated by the most adorable presidential monument ever.

This art gallery and oddities boutique bewitches visitors with a trove of occult trinkets and eccentric antiques, work by an ever-changing roster of underground artists, and classes in tarot and other mystic arts.

Lombard Street may be more famous, but this is the real “crookedest street in the world.”

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.

Longtime headquarters of controversial boys' club for the world's wealthiest and most powerful.

A historic hotel that made a cameo in Hitchcock's classic film has no intention of letting guests forget its fame.

This Alamo Square mansion is rumored to have hosted satanic rituals and other occult practices.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

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

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

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.

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

Across Ring Mountain is a vast collection of Native American petroglyphs unique to the region.

This infamous prison has a store where you can buy goods crafted by incarcerated people.

George Lucas donated this park to honor the birthplace of his two biggest movie franchises.

This rare example of a "tidefall" is a spectacular drop from the cliffs down onto the beach.

'Cause the fence start shaking, the earth was quaking.

Built by the inventor of the radio, this abandoned hotel has housed early radio employees, military men, and a dangerous cult.

The lighthouse central to the 1980s horror classic "The Fog" is, in fact, located in one of the foggiest areas of the Pacific Coast.

Massive prehistoric mammals used these stones as oversized scratching posts.

The southernmost outpost of the Russian Empire in colonial America.

A striking eight-story-high obelisk perched on a coastal California cliff.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.

Climb 200 stairs up the tallest lighthouse on the West Coast for an unbeatable view.