But truth isthey are just a facade camouflaging huge oil-drilling operations in the bay.
Disguising industrial infrastructures so that they blend with the environment is nothing new.
The city of Toronto has been dressing upelectric substationsinto quiet little houses for more than a century.
These fakeries are rarely advertised, instead left to be discovered by curious citizens.
The islands were built in 1965 at an estimated cost of $22 million.
The islands were then filled with sand dredged from the bottom of the harbor floor.
The next step was landscaping and equipment installation.
The islands were required to blend in with the local landscape and scenery.
The islands were designed by Joseph Linesch, who also helped design landscaping at Disneyland.
Palm trees were planted on the exterior.
The latter three were Apollo 1 astronauts who had perished in a fire accident at the launch pad.
The island on the right is Island Grissom, one of the THUMS offshore oil platforms.
Photo credit:Payton Chung/Flickr
