Places nmaxinec Wants to Go

A huge musical instrument played by the ocean.

Bring your own cardboard to the slippery slopes of concrete hidden in a neighborhood park.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

Staircase winds down the side of Telegraph Hill through gardens, wild parrots flying overhead.

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

This residential door allows San Francisco muggles a glimpse at the wizarding world.

Forgotten and then destroyed by fire, this was once one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in the world.

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

A still functioning vaudeville carousel that has operated for over a century boasts a colorful menagerie and past.

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.

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

This turn of the century masterpiece has a mysterious goaty interloper.

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

This private residence was the template for one of the most beloved television homes of all time.

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

The one-time watch house for incoming ships at the Golden Gate now stands abandoned and hidden in trees.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

A museum befitting the city responsible for supplying the majority of the world's LSD.

A tiny theater hidden in an alley plays a constant stream of short silent films for anyone willing to peer through the peephole.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

This dry lake bed contains the oldest known petroglyphs in North America.

Each winter this underground cave forms a dazzling ice palace.

A tiny survivor of the Donner Party disaster.