California Academy of Sciences

Boasting a planetarium, a natural history museum and a four-story tropical rainforest encased in glass, the complex sports a new building by architect Renzo Piano, which qualified for platinum LEED status.

From editorial cartoons to comic books, graphic novels to anime, Sunday funnies to Saturday morning cartoons, the museums key function is to preserve, document and exhibit works from this art form.

Housed here is one of the worlds largest privately owned collections of mechanically operated musical instruments and antique arcade machines.

The mission of the museum, located just north of the city in Mountain View, is to preserve and present for posterity the artifacts and stories of the information age.

Learn about the inventor, technologies, builders, rapid expansion, near loss and ongoing efforts to save and rebuild the cable cars of San Francisco.

Fans of the movie Gattaca will recognize this Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, which is open to the public and spectacular to experience, inside and out.

The three-pronged Sutro Tower is a 977-foot-tall, self-supporting steel structure rising from a hill between Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro like something out of Star Wars. Photo Credit: Justin Beck

A collection of aviation history spanning the past century, the museum includes 50 aircraft exhibits, including the first fully collapsible helicopter.

This massive camera, based on a 15th-century design by Leonardo da Vinci, projects an image onto a horizontal viewing table via a reflected image from a viewpoint at the top of the building. Photo credit: Sanfranman59

Four major theme galleries fill the upper level and lower level of the museum: Communication, Exploration, Innovation and Life Tech. It also boasts an IMAX theater and an earthquake simulator. Photo Credit: Elizabeth B. Thomsen