Places strangersigh Wants to Go

A quiet nook at the top of a little-known hilltop park named after California's first poet laureate.

The sole surviving relic of the San Francisco neighborhood cobbled together from old horsecars and streetcars.

This grinning pup statue is all that's left of what was once a ubiquitous Bay Area diner chain.

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

The miraculous hydrant that saved the Mission District in 1906.

A walk down memory lane in the heart of one of San Francisco's most notorious neighborhoods.

San Francisco's most expensive hotel suite includes a secret passageway rumored to have been used by JFK.

The grand, column-fronted, sculpture-adorned home of the ambitious digital library.

A monument to the love people have for their pets.

San Francisco's oldest operating hotel, with a Victorian atmosphere and a "haunted" fourth floor.

The remains of a 12th-century chapter house in Golden Gate Park.

A library and museum dedicated to typography.

This partially buried wreck is one of the most complete of its kind but is only revealed when the sea allows.

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

The stones that traveled from Spain to eventually become a holy place for San Francisco's nature worshippers.

An overlooked and unassuming engineering marvel.

Gold Rush-era tombstones line the park's paths.

A hidden subterranean installation offers a view of the sky.

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

This shop and studio is dedicated to the art of the book, from letterpress to bookbinding.

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

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

In this century-old literary safehouse, print is alive and well.

Big gun installations, built over a massive cemetery, now abandoned & hidden in trees.