Alcatraz, San Francisco, CA

Monday, September 19, 2011

San Francisco, CA ; Population 805,205. Elevation; 52’. This is where we spent our past 6 days. We loved every moment of every day there.


Sunday morning we woke up early and headed out driving to the forts and parks. We drove over the Golden Gate Bridge. AWESOME!!!! There is a road by the bridge that you can drive up. It takes you to the edge of a hill that overlooks the bay and the bridge. Its a great pictorial site. The bridge itself is beautiful. It is 1.7 miles long. It towers 746 feet above the water. It was made in NJ, MD, and PA and was shipped through the Panama Canal. It weighs in excess of 83k tons. The average crossings each year is about 41 million. 41 million! I snapped away taking pictures. The red showed up so much more in the afternoon with the sun reflecting on it. It truly is beautiful, with the city in the background.

Lombard Street

Once over the bridge we drove along the coast and watched surfers appreciate the waves. The weather was perfect. 73 was the high and the skies were clear and blue. We drove through the residential part of San Francisco just to see how the residents live. I loved it, loved it, loved it!  Tommy was okay with it, until he found out that a 2 bedroom townhouse went for $875K. Then he said it was only nice to visit. LOL.

the most crooked street in the world

top view of Lombard St

After going through The Golden Gate State Park, which is beautiful, we stopped for lunch. We ate local. The place was called ASQUE. They are famous for their…..wait for it…..wait…..wait……..skews!!!! We did not order them. LOL. We had burgers and salad. They were great. We were on a side street so we definitely slipped in looking like locals. It was a good choice.

After lunch we started toward the city. We had reservations on the Alcatraz Cruise Line at 2:50pm. Parking is almost next to impossible in San Francisco. Especially with our ‘beast’. We drove around and around, and up and down and finally found a spot. It was by Lombardi street. The most crooked street in the world. It is extremely cool. The reason behind this street simply is that way back when, the residents could not get their horse and buggies up or down this street because of the grade. It is extremely steep! They put in 21 switchbacks which made the road passable. Now it is known all over the world and in the Guinness book of world records. We did not drive down it but did walk down it. It is very beautifully landscaped and extremely interesting.  Around the same time of building the new street, the cable cars were introduced, to pull people and freight up and down the rest of  steep streets.

From our parking space we had almost a 2 mile walk to the pier where our ship took off. We started walking at a pace I have never seen Tommy persevere like before. He even walked in the street around the pedestrians. When I inquired why he was stressing, he replied, I don’t want to loose $60. Not that he wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the boat because he knew how badly I wanted to do the tour. (We actually had to pay an extra $130 to stay 2 more nights because we could not get on an earlier cruise.). He wanted his $60 worth. Gotta love him!!! We made it by 3 minutes and were the 2nd to last to board.

the shower

The tour was phenomenal. The boat ride is approximately 20 minutes into the middle of the bay. 1 ½ miles from the San Francisco. There is a lot of boat traffic and a lot of strong currents in the bay. The water temperature average is 58 degrees, and the currents run up to 8mph. This is one reason the prison was placed in the middle of the bay. It made it almost impossible to escape, swim and survive. But in 1962 3 men did. (More later).

As you enter the prison it is creepy! You are shuffled into one of four different rooms to watch a 15 minute film about the facility. It is well narrated, well documented and educated us enormously.  Once the film is over you walk through a narrow brick tunnel lined with mold and moss  Gross, actually. All original. The entire tour is comprised of  all original buildings, equipment used and accessories.

San  Francisco from the rock

solitary confinement

At the end of the hallway/tunnel you are handed an audio tour headset in your respective language and follow the instructions in your ears. The audio tour lasts approximately 45 minutes. It is so well composed that it keeps everyone moving along and no one is waiting on,  or rushing, anyone. Tommy and I timed it so we started at the very same time so we could stay together.

whats left of the wardens house

the dummies used to escape

the lunch chambers

the pipes they shimmied down to escape

the visitors station

imagine this; once you arrive, as a prisoner, on Alcatraz in shackles, you can see the lights of San Francisco recede. You recall what you’ve heard about the city - its night life, its restaurants, it beautiful buildings and wealthy citizens. But for you, as an inmate, the city might as well be a mirage even though you can see it, smell, it, and sometimes, when the wind is right, hear the people partying on the piers.



The possibility of being killed in the showers in against you so you try to keep to yourself but there is no privacy, anywhere. Its just plain CRAZY!!!

the wardens

the lookout tower

 


There are 4 guards and 4 inmates who narrate the entire tour. At times it is so very real, very loud, and so scary that I actually turned around and almost screamed out loud. The stereo in your ears is wonderfully done. The prison is comprised of A,B,C and D Blocks.

Here’s some facts about ‘The Rock”. It was built in 1866 and was originally made for military prisoners. They were mostly convicted of desertion, theft, assault, rape, and murder. All from the Civil War. In 1934 it became a maximum security federal penitentiary. Al Capone, Doc Barker, Creepy Karpis and Floyd Hamiliton were some of the better know inmates to serve time there. Capone actually died there for syphilis. He went insane.

my new favorite chocolate

the infamous escapes

There were 14 attempts to escape but the best known is the 1962 one. Frank Morris, along with John and Clarence Anglin escaped by using spoons to carve away at the vent holes in there cells. They made paper Mache heads to place in there cots, crawled out through the vent holes they made, and shimmied down utility pipes to the bay.  Their bodies were never found but are assumed to have drowned. (it’s a movie).

The most Alcatraz ever housed was 302 prisoners even though there were 336 cells available. They have 13 ‘holes’. Solitary confinement. We went in one, very, very, creepy! If you weren’t insane before going in you definitely were when you came out. Some inmates were in there up to 14 days. The lights are not on the entire time. 
If you ever go to San Francisco, this is a must! Creepy, but interesting, gross, but intriguing. Tiring, but so worth it! From the start at Pier 33 to returning back, it is just over 2 hours long, and worth every Penny.

the golden gate bridge

We rounded out  the day with Ghirardelli! MMMMM, MMMMM Good! Anyone who knows me, knows that Godiva is my all time favorite….not anymore!  I had a hot fudge sundae and Tommy ate chocolate squares.

We still had a long walk up and down the streets to our truck so I’m sure all the calories I consumed were burnt up by the time we arrived.

 We had the most perfect day and hate to leave, but Yosemite is calling our name! Thanks for reading.