A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

Ride the subways of yesteryear.

Elevated freight railway turned wildly successful urban park.

A beautiful and abandoned New York subway station from 1904, complete with chandelier.

This concrete tangle of square pipes has stood as a proud thorn in the city's side since the '70s.

Golden Gate Park's historic collection of plants.

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

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

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

San Francisco's newly reopened hands-on science museum.

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

Tiki luxury on Nob Hill.

There is no trying to fall in love with this Star Wars fountain, you just do or do not.

Carnivorous plants, medieval aphrodisiacs, and the largest original wood structure glass conservatory in the western hemisphere.

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

Get lost in this haunting fairytale art walk through a man-made eucalyptus grove.

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

An artsy hidden staircase leads to breathtaking views of San Francisco.

The L.A. Zoo has a secret garden of rare bootleg cycads, a palm specimen dating back 280 million years.

This star-studded Old Hollywood restaurant is where fettuccine Alfredo made its United States debut.

Scores of vintage street lamps shine along L.A.’s Miracle Mile.

These delicate buggers are some of the rarest fossils that have bubbled up from the Tar Pits.