This is the tour material that gets the biggest reactions: a pipe organ played by the tide, tombstones recycled into a seawall, a comic shop bathroom drawn on by professional artists, and gold circles in the pavement marking buried firefighting cisterns from 1909. Twelve strange things around the city, ranked, with a map.
Almost everything on this list is free, and most of it sits within a block or two of the standard sights. The write-ups explain the story behind each one.
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1
Wave Organ
A 1986 sound sculpture by Peter Richards and George Gonzales on a jetty next to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Twenty-five PVC and concrete pipes turn wave action into low resonant tones. Free, open 24 hours, best at high tide.
A sound installation built in May 1986 by Peter Richards of the Exploratorium with master mason George Gonzales, made of 25 PVC pipes and stone salvaged from the demolished Laurel Hill Cemetery. Free, open around the clock, on the jetty past the St. Francis Yacht Club. The sound is stronger at high tide; check NOAA tide tables before you go.
83 Marina Green Drive, Marina District Full write-up → -
2
Seward Street Slides
Two long concrete slides in Seward Mini Park, designed by 14-year-old Kim Clark in 1973. Free, open Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 5pm. Bring or grab cardboard.
Two concrete slides on a hillside since 1973, designed by 14 year old Kim Clark, winner of a design contest organized by sculptor Ruth Asawa. The park followed a decade of neighborhood resistance to development, including a 1966 occupation. Bring cardboard to ride on. Free, Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 5pm.
30 Seward Street, Castro District Full write-up → -
3
Isotope Comics Toilet Museum
Hayes Valley comic shop at 326 Fell Street with original artwork painted on toilet seats by working comic artists. Free to view; comics for sale.
A Hayes Valley comic shop whose bathroom walls are drawn on by working comic artists, alongside the regular comic stock. Free to look, comics for sale. Usually open noon to 7pm, closed Monday.
326 Fell St, Hayes Valley Full write-up → -
4
San Francisco Columbarium
Neoclassical 1898 columbarium in the Inner Richmond at 1 Loraine Court. Over 8,500 niches under a stained glass dome. One of the few places in San Francisco still able to inter remains. Free.
A circular neoclassical building from 1898 built by the Odd Fellows, with a copper dome and more than 8,500 glass fronted niches. It survived the 1906 earthquake and the city's 1934 burial ban, and was restored in the 1980s by the Neptune Society after near abandonment. Niches are personalized with Giants relics, whiskey flasks, miniature cars, and handwritten letters. Free, in the Inner Richmond.
1 Loraine Court, Inner Richmond Full write-up → -
5
Aquatic Park Tombstones
The seawall at Aquatic Park is built with real tombstones from San Francisco's relocated 19th-century cemeteries. Names and dates still visible in the concrete if you look closely.
San Francisco recycled 19th-century cemetery headstones into the Aquatic Park seawall during construction, and many remain partially exposed underfoot. Names and dates from the 1800s are still legible if you walk slowly and look down. At the foot of Polk Street, free, always accessible.
Aquatic Park, foot of Polk St, Fisherman's Wharf Full write-up → -
6
Buena Vista Park Tombstones
San Francisco's oldest park has 19th-century cemetery headstones built into its footpaths. Fragments of names and dates visible in the stone borders, repurposed when the city moved its dead to Colma.
WPA crews used 19th-century cemetery headstones to line the footpaths and gutters in Buena Vista Park in the late 1930s, after the city relocated its cemeteries to Colma. Names, dates, and partial inscriptions are still readable in the stone borders. Free, dawn to dusk, on a 37-acre hill between Haight Street and Buena Vista Avenue.
Buena Vista Park, between Haight St and Buena Vista Ave Full write-up → -
7
Parrots of Telegraph Hill
Naturalized flock of cherry-headed conures that has lived on Telegraph Hill since the early 1990s. Best seen late afternoon near Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps. Free.
Naturalized flock of cherry-headed conures (Aratinga erythrogenys) living on Telegraph Hill since at least the early 1990s, made famous by the 2003 documentary and book "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" by Mark Bittner. Easy to hear, harder to spot. Try late afternoon near Coit Tower and the Filbert Steps; March through July is nesting season. Free.
Telegraph Hill, Filbert and Greenwich Steps Full write-up → -
8
Golden Fire Hydrant
A gold-painted fire hydrant at 20th and Church that reportedly saved the Mission District during the 1906 earthquake fires. Repainted every April 18th at 5:12 AM.
A fire hydrant at 20th and Church painted gold because it kept working during the 1906 fire and helped save the Mission while other mains failed. Neighbors gather every April 18 at 5:12am, the moment the earthquake hit, to repaint it.
Corner of 20th St and Church St, Mission District Full write-up → -
9
1908 Cistern Circles
Over 170 gold-painted or brick circles on San Francisco streets mark underground cisterns built after the 1906 earthquake. Each holds 75,000 to 200,000 gallons of emergency firefighting water, and they're still in active use.
More than 170 brick and disc marked circles in San Francisco intersections mark buried emergency water cisterns, built between 1909 and 1913 after the 1906 fire. Each holds 75,000 to 200,000 gallons and the system is still maintained. The densest concentration is in the Mission, SoMa, and the Financial District.
Throughout San Francisco — over 170 intersections citywide Full write-up → -
10
Tree Fern Dell (Mescaline Grove)
A sunken hollow of towering tree ferns in Golden Gate Park, nicknamed Mescaline Grove since the 1960s. Dense canopy, prehistoric plants, and a two-minute walk that drops you into a rainforest.
A dense stand of tree ferns in Golden Gate Park, some over 15 feet tall, with sword ferns, Boston ferns, and European ferns covering the ground. In the 1960s it picked up the nickname "Mescaline Grove," which still circulates. No signs or benches. A 2 minute walk off JFK Drive near the Conservatory of Flowers. Free.
Near Conservatory of Flowers, Golden Gate Park Full write-up → -
11
Legs of Haight Street
Giant fishnet-stocking legs in red high heels jut from a second-story window above Piedmont Boutique on Haight Street. The legs have been there since 1995. A 30-second photo stop.
A pair of fishnet stockinged legs with red heels kicks out of a second story window above Haight Street, installed in 1995. Piedmont Boutique downstairs has sold clothes and wigs since 1972.
1452 Haight St, Haight-Ashbury Full write-up → -
12
Camera Obscura
A 1946 camera obscura at Lands End that projects the coastline onto a dish inside a small wooden shed. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Go on a clear, sunny day; the projection needs direct sunlight. Pair it with a walk on the Lands End Trail past the Sutro Baths ruins next door.
1096 Point Lobos Ave, San Francisco, CA 94121 Full write-up →
