Puzzling...this tree looks like an assemblage of dismembered monkey limbs.

The perfect spot for a picnic, right next to a giant ballistic missile.

The former Naval shipyard is open for exploring - mostly.

Come for the records, stay for the retro pinball machines.

The timepiece that exonerated a labor radical accused of a parade bombing that killed ten people.

The remains of a deserted steamboat sit rusting beside an old ferry pier and an abandoned train platform.

Thousands of crosses and markers for soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan blanket a California hillside.

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.

An abandoned car and strange wooden debris are among the scattered remains of the old sand and gravel quarry.

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

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

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

A restored 1920s cascade stairway provides one of the best views of Oakland's Lake Merritt.

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

With statues of Nelson Mandela and Harvey Milk this monument has been called the Mount Rushmore of California.

The Flatiron Building's storied West Coast cousin is a lot more into religion.

The newsstand that never closes its doors—well, almost never.

A temple devoted to inner esoteric mysteries located in a California commercial strip.

A 1914 beaux arts auditorium that sat shuttered for 20 years, restored and reopened in 2026

A hardware store Buddha statue installed to deter vandalism wound up attracting Vietnamese immigrants who came to pray.

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

From the sky, a kaleidoscope of color brightens the grey landscape of the San Francisco Bay.

A Roman-inspired temple once controlled half of San Francisco's waters.

The black lab that was voted mayor of a California town is forever remembered by a life-size statue.