Places esotericus Wants to Go

This whimsical stacked cabin looks like something out of a children's book.

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

This one-block alleyway is stuffed with street art that is colorful, cultural, and intensely political.

Chevron maintains one “Standard” brand station per state so it doesn’t lose the trademark.

The rustic cabin-like decor of this Arts and Crafts-style church reflects the love of nature central to its little-known theology.

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

A famous alternative culture epicenter and where Joplin serenaded young hippies.

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

Fonts are born and bred here at the oldest letterpress type foundry in the United States.

Tenacious mummies survived dental problems, eternal entombment, and more than their fair share of devastating fires.

A library and museum dedicated to typography.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

San Franciscans leave gifts and messages for the magical beings that live behind the tiny, mysterious door installed on a tree in Golden Gate Park.

A collection of memorabilia from the Beat era in the back of a San Francisco bookstore.

This shop and studio is dedicated to the art of the book, from letterpress to bookbinding.

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

In this century-old literary safehouse, print is alive and well.

A nondescript building that's been functioning as a speakeasy for nearly a century and a half.

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