Places shelleyra Wants to Go

A massive ultra-modern church presents a science-fiction view of Catholicism's inclusive future.

This Oakland fairytale kingdom, fiercely devoted to childlike whimsy, was an early inspiration for Disneyland.

The memorial to the victims of the Jonestown Massacre carries the names of 918 lost, including one name people wish wasn't there.

Abandoned landscape once home to "the world's largest winery."

A pier that used to act as a busy ferry dock is now a decaying favorite of local fisherman and urban artists.

A B&B on a Victorian lighthouse station in San Francisco Bay.

Once the largest winery in the world, this castle-like building now sits abandoned on the San Pablo/San Francisco Bay shore.

Where a staggering 747 ships were constructed during World War II.

A 90-acre park on former landfill that hosts an annual kite festival.

Julia Morgan's Moorish-Gothic labyrinth of fountains, trees, natural light and Oakland's notable dead.

A private home built to resemble the shape of a microscopic creature.

The only museum of sake in the United States is nestled in an unlikely California college town.

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

An "anarchical" no man's land, complete with garbage sculptures and a hobo-run "Landfillian Library."

An amazing collection of fantastic reptiles, amphibians, spiders, and insects.

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

Odd stone and concrete monuments in the "Poet of the Sierras" eclectic folly garden.

A celebration of once forgotten materials.

Handmade treasures from around the world.

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

A store that sells all manner of bones, insects, and animal curiosities.

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

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

This museum looks at the history of one of America's most famous prisons and most beloved albums.