There are tons of weird little spots in San Francisco. Maybe the weirdest I’ve come across is the Wave Organ, a “wave-activated acoustic sculpture” located at the end of a jetty in San Francisco bay.

To access the Wave Organ, make your way to the St. Francis Yacht Club. Walking behind the building, you’ll see the long jetty cutting straight through San Francisco Bay. Start walking. It will look like maybe this isn’t public property, but it is, just keep walking.

A half mile later, you’ll come to the end of the jetty. You won’t see the Wave Organ until you’re on top of it. It will suddenly appear, splayed out before you in all it’s granite and marble stone grandeur.  Eyeing the haphazard gothic masonry and intricately carved splayed columns, you may think, “why, this looks like the ruins of a cemetery.” And you would be correct.

Sculptor George Gonzalez designed the wave organ as envisioned by artist Peter Richard. Gonzalez did use the ruins of a demolished cemetery to construct the jetty, and covered PVC piping with concrete to create the organ itself. The project was completed in 1986.

The organ’s winding tubes jut out of the sculpture like organic vines and tendrils, in contrast to all the geometric lines of the cemetery ruins.. The wave organ operates as promised — as you press your ear to the organ, you can hear tonal moans and gasps as the waves swell and crash all around you.

The site is peaceful and calm, with benches to sit on and all of San Francisco’s hills to see. It’s a great place to sit and be for a little while, in the middle of and yet away from it all.