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

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

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

Created in 1972, the famous sculptor's intricately detailed monument to San Francisco is overflowing with city landmarks.

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

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.

An art supply shop holds the secrets of this quiet neighborhood's raucous Barbary Coast past.

Faceless white figures loom over the city from the rooftop.

A pair of mutilated bronze octopuses slump at the base of the monument honoring California's admission to the U.S.

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

The largest whiskey stash on the West Coast survived the 1906 fires--but not without heroic effort.

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

A Barbary Coast watering hole built into a Gold Rush shipwreck.

Gold Rush ship-turned-hotel buried underneath San Francisco's financial district.

A classic advertising icon immortalized in regal bronze.

Prone to disastrous fires, the city of San Francisco has the Guardian, a fireboat gifted by residents, to watch over them from the bay.

Recovered from the brink of extinction, at home in the Financial District.

These WWII-era murals were initially booed as a libelous portrayal of the American dream but have survived multiple attempts to have them destroyed.

A veteran Disney animator turned his gift for storytelling to a museum devoted to his love of a California city.

Wheels of chrome by the thousands adorn this California Historical Landmark.

California's own medieval Italian castle, authentic down to the 300-year-old iron maiden in the dungeon.

A psychedelic labyrinth on the San Francisco bay.

An essential stop before plundering, BYO Cutlass.