The Sutro Baths, opened in 1896, were an enormous covered swimming pool complex in western San Francisco. It had seven pools filled with water from the ocean with six of them kept at temperatures ranging from hot to cold. Over the course of its operation until it closed in 1966 it also featured a concert hall, ice skating rink and a huge collection of owner Adolph Sutro's stuffed animals and other oddities. The structure burned down in 1966 leaving behind the ruins which are now part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The photo on the cover of the Frank Black and the Catholics album Dog in the Sand was shot here. It's a perfectly boring album cover, but I was just glad it didn't make my eyes bleed like all of the other Frank Black and the Catholics album artwork.

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The photo for Del the Funky Homosapien's comic book themed cover on his second album No Need for Alarm was shot at Harrison Square in Oakland's Chinatown. A lot of people say this album is uneven, which it is, but much of it is great if you can get past the misogyny of "Boo Boo Heads."

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I always thought the 1991 3rd Bass album Derelicts of Dialect was underrated, although it does have the worst skits of any hip-hop album ever (yes, even worse than The Score by the Fugees).

The cover photo with MC Serch, Pete Nice and Richie Rich dressed as derelicts was shot under the Brooklyn Bridge. The photo is credited to Michael Lavine who has also shot cover photography for The Notorious B.I.G. (Life After Death), Outkast (Stankonia) and the infamous Dwarves album cover Blood Guts and Pussy.

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LL Cool J dropped out of Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, but the building still made it onto the cover of his second album Bigger and Deffer. The photo was shot by Glen E. Friedman, the L.A. photographer responsible for iconic photographs of many bands such as the Beastie Boys, Fugazi, Public Enemy and Run DMC.

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SoCal ska punk band Sublime was on a five-day tour in Northern California when guitarist / lead singer Bradley Nowell od'd on heroin and died here at the Oceanview Motel in San Francisco on May 25, 1996. He was 28 years old. Their hit major label debut album Sublime (renamed from Killin' It after his death) was released posthumously. Nowell had been battling heroin addiction for many years. He was survived by Eric Wilson (bass) Bud Gaugh (drums) and Lou Dog.

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