Where the alchemists dream of transmuting base metal into gold was actually achieved.

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

A unique market that brings together various goods and cultures.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.

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

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

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

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A century and a half of research in the sciences and natural history, still going strong.

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

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

A modest reminder of treacherous waters at the Golden Gate.

Furniture tries to escape an abandoned building in San Francisco.

San Francisco's oldest surviving monument and meeting place for 1906 survivors.

A bronze tribute to a legendary Californian, the self-proclaimed "Emperor of the United States."

Only hotel where you can legally launder money.

A shining, cold, black organ lies in San Francisco's financial district.

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

Noble beasts perhaps, but not the Emperor's dogs.

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

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.