Shrink the Guggenheim, plop it inside a yellow-brick box with a round Romanesque entryway and put it where you'd least expect it: on a shady SF alley that was once a backstreet brothel. Groundbreaking American architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed this as the VC Morris Gift Store in 1948; this is his only San Francisco building. It's changed hands since and now houses Isaia, an Italian luxury menswear boutique. If it's open, duck inside to see Wright's signature nautilus-shell atrium ramp, which is now topped by a vintage Campari bar.

Transportation

  • bus: 38
  • bart: Powell
  • muni: Powell

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

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