{"id":2700,"date":"2009-10-17T02:30:19","date_gmt":"2009-10-17T06:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/?p=2700"},"modified":"2009-10-24T19:24:23","modified_gmt":"2009-10-24T23:24:23","slug":"san-francisco-pt-3-alcatraz-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/?p=2700","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco – Pt 3 – Alcatraz Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"SF-day2-19\"<\/p>\n

They are both bundled up, but it was actually on the mild side (although breezy on the cruise boat).<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-18\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-20\"<\/p>\n

In 1969,\u00a0 some years after the infamous prison closed, the American Indian Movement claimed the Island as their own and stayed until they were forced off\u00a0 by federal marshall about 18 months later in 1971.\u00a0 That occupation was an awakening of the American Indian culture and was a step towards the Indian rights movement.<\/p>\n

\"SF-Alcatraz\"<\/p>\n

Alcatraz was the location of the west coast’s first lighthouse.\u00a0 It was also a military fortification and the west coast harbor defense during the Civil War.\u00a0 The Army eventually turned the Island into a military prison and then into the infamous federal prison until it closed on March 21, 1963.\u00a0 The Indian occupation was next in the history chain, along with other civil rights movements, until in 1976 it was designated as part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.\u00a0 Amazing all of the things nuggets of info one learns on these trips!<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-22\"<\/p>\n

We initially started walking the grounds, visiting the various outbuildings and the warden’s residence which are weathered, crumbling, and roofless — just the type of structures I like photographing!<\/p>\n

\"SF-misc-3\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-23\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-24\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-25\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-26\"<\/p>\n

In addition to the sea birds, there are also all types of interesting flowers and plants.<\/p>\n

\"SF-misc-4\"<\/p>\n

Eventually we made our way inside.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-c\"<\/p>\n

Of course the first thing I had to do was goof around and put Mike in a jail cell – complete with his audio headphones on!<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-d\"<\/p>\n

The cells are far smaller than I imagined they would be.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-29\"<\/p>\n

The prison is noted for housing some of the most notorious criminals such as Al Capone and Robert Stroud (aka the “Birdman of Alcatraz”).\u00a0 The saying was “If you break the law you go to prison, if you break the prison laws, you go to Alcatraz.” Alcatraz, or “The Rock.”<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-30\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-32\"<\/p>\n

Cell Block-D, where Robert Stroud spent most of his time.
\nThe cell blocks are dismal, and our audio tour detailed many stories of dire conditions such as “The Hole,” a solitary sensory deprivation cell measuring 9x5x7 feet located in the D-Block section.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-33\"<\/p>\n

The prison houses less prisoners than I thought – the higest number being 302, the lowest 222, an the average some 260.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-e\"<\/p>\n

While it was all interesting, including the educational movie we watched, I was happy leaving the cells and exploring more of the outside.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-41\"<\/p>\n

\"Alcatraz-new2\"<\/p>\n

The stairs leading to the courtyard.\u00a0 This was Mike’s favorite area of the Island.<\/p>\n

\"Alcatraz-new1\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-f\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-43\"<\/p>\n

Although there were escape attempts, only Frank Lee Morris and the Anglin brothers in 1962 escaped the institution and the island, although their survival was doubtful.\u00a0 Escape from Alcatraz<\/em> is the movie with Clint Eastwood portraying Morris.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-44\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-45\"<\/p>\n

While walking around the perimeter of the Island, there were some gorgeous views.<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-46\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-47\"<\/p>\n

\"SF-day2-48-01\"
\nThe audio tour also noted that the city view from the upper level of the jail cells were a form of torture because freedom was so close yet so very far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

They are both bundled up, but it was actually on the mild side (although breezy on the cruise boat). In 1969,\u00a0 some years after the infamous prison closed, the American Indian Movement claimed the Island as their own and stayed until they were forced off\u00a0 by federal marshall about 18 months later in 1971.\u00a0 That […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photos-san-francisco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2700"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2905,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2700\/revisions\/2905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gloriahansen.com\/weblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}