Welcome to Hollister, California, where everything you look at might seem just a little...off.
It is not your imagination. As described in this excellent post at the always-stimulating BLDGBLOG, Hollister is warping as a result of sitting right atop the Calaveras Fault. The phenomenon is known as "creep" or "aseismic creep":
The Town that Creep Built
As if its grid of streets and single-family homes was actually built on an ice floe, the entire west half of Hollister is moving north along the Calaveras Fault, leaving its eastern streets behind.
This home just couldn't take the stress anymore, and was torn down in 2009.
There are other towns in Northern California that display this tendency, notably Hayward and Parkfield. (Parkfield's macabre tourist slogan is "Be Here When It Happens.") But Hollister is undoubtedly the poster child for creep.
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