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

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

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

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

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

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

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

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

A massive ultra-modern church presents a science-fiction view of Catholicism's inclusive future.

Collective dedicated to restoring steam engines.

A 90-acre park on former landfill that hosts an annual kite festival.

A playground built by the kids that is a child's wonderland, and a helicopter parent's nightmare.

The only museum of sake in the United States is nestled in an unlikely California college town.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

A private home built to resemble the shape of a microscopic creature.

A storybook European village in Berkeley.

Worker-owned cooperative and resource for those looking to lighten their ecological footprint.

A celebration of once forgotten materials.

The Laureates here get something even more coveted than a Nobel Prize: free parking for life.

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

This subtle Berkeley paving stone actually marks off a lawless tube of air that extends into space.

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