The hook
One of the largest freestanding buildings ever raised, an eight-acre airship hangar so big fog forms inside near the ceiling, now stripped to a bare steel skeleton.
01Why it's worth it
At the old Moffett Field naval air station in Mountain View stands Hangar One, built in the 1930s to house Navy dirigibles, the giant rigid airships of the era. It's so enormous, over 200 feet high and covering eight acres, that fog reportedly forms up near its ceiling. For decades it was a Bay Area landmark, then its skin, laced with toxic PCBs, was peeled off, leaving a haunting bare lattice that's slowly being re-clad. You can't go inside (it's federal land, now leased to Google), so this is a look-from-the-fence icon. But the sheer scale of it, a cathedral built for flying machines that no longer exist, is awe-inspiring even from the road.
02How to experience it
You see it from US-101 and the streets around Moffett Field in Mountain View. The airfield itself is restricted, so take in the scale from outside. The nearby Moffett Field Historical Society museum has the full history if you want it.