Nestled in the heart of San Francisco’s bustling Financial District stands a unique homage to the Mayan and Beaux Arts.

Concrete strongholds stand guard over the Golden Gate.

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

The last remaining relic of San Francisco's glittering 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition.

The remains of a ruined mansion memorialize the 1906 earthquake.

A collection of 20th-century automata, penny arcade games, and musical contraptions.

The century-old bell and clock tower at UC Berkeley is the third-tallest in the world, and has fossils.

Relics of the 1894 Midwinter Exposition continue to delight visitors today.

A man-made island in scenic San Francisco Bay.

A New England-style lighthouse along California's beautiful Highway 1 gets a re-do.

The world's first permanently occupied mountain-top observatory continues to report on the stars.

A classically inspired temple in Redwood City.

This 252 step staircase offers stunning views of San Jose.

The World Wide Web was created in this nondescript corridor at CERN.

It is locally loved and ridiculed for literally looking like poop.

The headquarters of a secretive order is also a beautifully-designed park.

An extensive collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts and mummies.

This giant shopping mall still holds signs of its automotive past.

For roadside fast food, pull over at the giant orange.

This odd California folly seems like it was almost designed to accumulate urban legends.

The garage at the childhood home of Steve Jobs was a hangout for the founders of Apple, even if they never built computers there.

A giant chess set, minus the psychedelic drug trip.

A giant can of fruit cocktail is all that remains of what was once the world's largest cannery.

A life-sized mammoth sculpture marks the spot where the remains of a Columbian mammoth were discovered in 2005.