This subtle Berkeley paving stone actually marks off a lawless tube of air that extends into space.

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

Every Sunday, this Thai temple in Berkeley serves a backyard brunch.

A unique market that brings together various goods and cultures.

Check out a shovel along with your Shakespeare.

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

A crumbling Beaux Arts monument to the Bay Area's age of rail.

The first mural ever dedicated to the women of the Black Panther Party.

An art collective teaching the more fiery, metal-y art forms.

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.

International delicatessen has been owned and operated by the same family for more than 110 years.

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

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

Oakland's beautiful monumental cemetery.

Spiral labyrinth hidden in the hills above Oakland, CA.

Antiques by the Bay.

Dive bar built out of the remains of a whaling ship.

One of the best absinthe distilleries in the United States.

The southernmost outpost of the Russian Empire in colonial America.

A local dialect born in the late 19th century is only spoken in this isolated California valley.

The mysterious round rocks of Schooner Gulch.