The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

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

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

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

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

This shop specializes in oddities and Victorian-inspired wonders.

19th-century operating theatre in which the use of ether was first demonstrated - plus, a skeleton and a mummy!

One of the oldest used bookstores in the U.S. has been selling antiquarian treasures since 1825.

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

Not merely a museum – but a whirring powerhouse that offers a subterranean peek into the heart and soul of cable car operations.

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

Playable, historic pinball machines fill this Alameda museum.

A Harvard-area eatery preserves the uncovered tiles of its century-old predecessor.

This cemetery served as the only official burial grounds in Cambridge for nearly 200 years.

A morbid secret lies hidden within the beautiful walls of the Boston Athenaeum.

A real plaque marks the spot where a Faulknerian character committed fictional suicide.

A men’s restroom became a sandwich shop.

America's original house of worship for Spiritualism, the religious movement based on communing with the dead.

A burnt orange monolithic dome structure perched on a hillside near Interstate 280.

Shoot for par over the bodies of the dead on this cemetery-cum-golf course.

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

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

The oldest continuously operating fish market in the United States.

A much-maligned monument to teetotalism.