It is locally loved and ridiculed for literally looking like poop.

Three plaques mark the spot where the "forgotten father of broadcasting" worked.

Anyone can control this glittery light installation with just a phone call.

At night, this glittering musical tunnel draws skaters and photographers.

A statue commemorate Tommie Smith and John Carlos's brave protest at the 1968 Olympics, a watershed moment for civil rights.

Eight huge lanterns lining a city street can change color on command.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

A 1914 beaux arts auditorium that sat shuttered for 20 years, restored and reopened in 2026

A hardware store Buddha statue installed to deter vandalism wound up attracting Vietnamese immigrants who came to pray.

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

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.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

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

The last of a gourmet supermarket chain, this store helped spark California's Food Revolution.

An eccentric home stands out in an otherwise average neighborhood with mosaics, mini topiaries, and kinetic sculpture.

Puzzling...this tree looks like an assemblage of dismembered monkey limbs.

At this 1940s-era neighborhood favorite, you can still drink a cherry phosphate.

The California capital city once stood 10 feet lower than it does today.

A mesmerizing disco ball-like sculpture along the Sacramento River Walk.

I Street Bridge is the heaviest swinging center bridge in the United States.

A replica of the first public theater built in California.

Where the first "expert riders, willing to risk death daily" for the Pony Express were recruited.

The capitol city's oldest existing cemetery.