This infamous prison has a store where you can buy goods crafted by incarcerated people.

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

An vast warehouse of everyday treasures in Berkeley, CA.

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

Bonsai garden in Oakland is curated by the first non-Japanese female bonsai master in the United States.

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

A living time capsule of the 1960s Richardson Bay water-front.

A decommissioned Naval base now rents itself out for people who want to blow stuff up.

A working model of the entire San Francisco Bay and much of the Sacramento River Delta, complete with regular tides that change every 14 minutes.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

Internationally-recognized arts center housed in a century-old former military barracks.

One time home to turn of the century explosives, now hidden under the Bay Bridge.

An enormous artwork that colorfully celebrates over 150 years of US military achievements.

Condemned US Navy seaplane control tower turned officers’ club sits atop Yerba Buena Island.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

A promotional sun clock on the site of San Francisco's great raceway.

A walk-in working camera obscura produces 360-degree live images of the San Francisco coast.

Once the largest windmill outside of Holland, with enormous 114 foot sails.

A miniature view of the park, caught in time.

The seawater playground of gilded-era San Francisco burned to the ground in 1966.

The key to turning shifting dunes into the green oasis of Golden Gate Park.

A winding path built in secret on the edge of the continent.

In all of the 29 years it was in operation, no prisoners ever escaped successfully... or so they claim.

San Francisco's urban bison herd has persisted in the face of extinction, development, and disease.