Shrine to Japanese water-goblins, complete with their preserved body parts.

Once a black market electronics marketplace, now an otaku shopper's paradise.

This striking sculpture of a supermodel in a yoga pose challenges traditional public art.

The floor of this spectacular Baroque sanctuary is covered in memento mori.

Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Financial District stands a unique homage to the Mayan and Beaux Arts.

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

The second building of its name to occupy this location might be the finest flatiron building in San Francisco.

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

A shop full of natural curiosities, carnivorous plants, and costumed taxidermied mice.

Since 1973, this block has been home to the most concentrated collection of murals in San Francisco.

Visible below the waves are memorials to the city's Gold Rush dead.

This installation turns abstract economics into a stark, public spectacle.

The oldest and smallest cemetery in Paris is only open to the public twice a year.

This stone tower was built to protect Crete from incoming pirates.

According to Greek mythology, this natural spring is the home of a freshwater nymph.

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

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

Guarded by the Angel of Grief, the Stanford family tomb attracts an odd mix of halloween revelry and somber contemplation.

A hidden world of exotic succulents and cacti.

Wall Street has a new heroine, a bronze statue of a small but fierce girl.

This unmarked and unloved Manhattan subway grate created one of the most iconic images in American cinema.

The "Seinfeld" diner.

Manhattan’s Battery Park has a whimsical carousel full of spinning, glowing fish.

The East Village tenement from the cover of Led Zeppelin’s 1975 album has a tea shop on the ground floor.