On Monday, July 5th, our second of two full days in San Fran, our first destination was the notorious
Alcatraz Island. Adrian dropped the three of us at Pier 33, where the ferry to Alcatraz departs from. We had booked tickets for the 11am sailing weeks in advance, as they often sell out early. At the pier, we spent a while reading the various displays about Alcatraz before it was time to line up for our ferry.
On the boat en route to Alcatraz...
Alcatraz Island is a 22-acre island in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles from shore. It is most well known for being home to America's most legendary and inescapable federal prison - from 1934 to 1963 - and for some of the infamous prisoners it held during that time (eg. Al "Scarface" Capone, Robert "Birdman" Stroud, and George "Machine Gun" Kelly). The stories of sometimes-ingenious escape attempts are fascinating, but none are known to have succeeded:
36 prisoners were involved in 14 attempts, two men trying twice; 23 were caught, six were shot and killed during their escape, and three were lost at sea and never found. The most violent occurred on May 2, 1946 when a failed escape attempt by six prisoners led to the so-called Battle of Alcatraz. (From Wikipedia)During the federal prison years, the wardens and their families (including young children) lived a quite idyllic existence on the island - the audio tour included some of them saying that they barely thought about the fact that America's worst criminals were behind bars a few steps away. After 29 years as a federal prison, Alcatraz was closed in 1963 due to increasing costs ($10/prisoner per day!!), deteriorating buildings, and water pollution caused by the island's inhabitants.
A map of Alcatraz Island...
There are many other interesting aspects to Alcatraz too. Before it became a federal prison, the island was a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison. From 1969, Alcatraz was home to an 18-month native occupation that brought pulic attention to the cause of American Indian rights and prompted a reawakening of their culture and identity. The island is also home to many varieties of birds, and gardens that were planted by military and prison officials' families are now being restored.
Grafitti from the Indian occupation is still visible near the dock...
Photos from our walk up the hill to the Cellhouse...
Squeak-inducingly adorable baby seagulls near the path...
The watchtower (with cardboard cut-out guard inside)...
San Francisco's first hybrid ferry (not the one we travelled to the island on)...
Of the few hours we were on the island, most of our time was spent exploring the Cellhouse via audio tour, which was included in the ferry price ($26). It was an excellent recording, with speakers including past prisoners, wardens, and wardens' children who grew up on the island. A well-done audio tour really does turn an experience from touristy to riveting!
The shower block (not much scope for modesty here!)...
The laundry room...
Alcatraz prison cells (there were also solitary confinement cells where the wardens could close the door and leave troublesome prisoners in utter darkness)...
The recreation yard...
Cormorants...
Pockmarks on the floor from grenades thrown during the Battle of Alcatraz...
The prisoners worked in various areas of the prison - eg. the laundry and kitchen. This gave them an escape from the confines of their cells... and also offered them the hope of procuring materials to be used during an actual escape attempt! The photo below shows how wardens could tell at a glance if a kitchen utensil had gone missing...
Back outside the Cellhouse (the buildings in the background are the Bachelors' Quarters for the wardens)...
View of the San Francisco Bay Bridge from the ferry back to the mainland...
The view from Pier 39 out to Alcatraz Island...
And a couple of suspicious characters; possibly escapees...
4 comments:
some of the pics are missing and "forbidden" This happened with another post also, guessing you've linked them from flickr in which you have privacy settings that don't allow us to view? strange...maybe it's just me!
Hmm... we did have this problem a few days ago, but thought we had fixed it. I can view all the photos even when I log out, so I'm not sure what to do since I can't tell where the problem is! Is anyone else experiencing this also?
Yeah, 9 photos missing, from 'photos from our walk up the hill..' to 'of the few hours we were on the island..'
T.
Thanks, T! Hopefully you can see them now. I know how to fix them one by one if I know which ones you can't see. :) Let me know if it happens anywhere else (although it should be ok now).
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