Alvord Lake Bridge
The first reinforced concrete bridge built in the United States, completed in 1889 and shaped to look like rough stone. Fake stalactites hang from the arch at the Haight Street entrance to Golden Gate Park.
Attraction Category: Historic Sites
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.
Sutro Egyptian Collection
About 700 ancient Egyptian artifacts (including two intact mummies) collected by former SF mayor Adolph Sutro in the 1880s. Housed in the free Global Museum at San Francisco State University.
Heineman Building
A 10-story building only 20 feet wide at 130 Bush Street, covered in glazed terra cotta and hammered copper. Built in 1910 as a necktie, belt, and suspender factory by architect George Applegarth.
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.
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.
