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Published: October 17th 2008
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Me
With another very famous Al. Who doesn’t know a song about San Francisco that comes to mind? I’ve had Tony Bennett in my head for the past week. There is so much to do here but I decided to go into the famous city and take a cruise over to Alcatraz Island. My first attempt was on Wednesday---ugh! I didn’t want to drive into San Francisco because a driver never sees what a passenger does. I found out that San Francisco has a great transit system (BART—Bay Area Transport) so I went to the closest station. NO PARKING anywhere…..on to the next station, same story. I cruised around for an hour then decided to go home deflated but not defeated! The next morning I got up before dawn, left home about 7:20 a.m. and got to the station at 8 a.m. again nowhere to park, all the cars there must arrive by 7 a.m. I had seen a strip mall on my drive yesterday which was within walking distance so I decided to go park my car there—but there were signs “No Parking for BART commuters.” Now I was ticked off! Here I was wanting to go into a California city to spend good Texas money
Alcatraz
Built during the Civil war Alcatraz was the first fort and lighthouse on the west coast with a purpose to protect the coast of California from Confederate attack. Any Confederate sympathizers were sent to the island. After the war it was used as a military prison. The prisoners were required to work for their keep; smashing rocks, building roads and prison buildings. and I couldn’t find a small space for my car!! I decided to go talk to the manager of the Rite Aid Drug Store in the strip mall. An Asian gentleman, who was very kind, gave me permission to park in front of his store and a Rite Aide sign to put on my dash board just in case. So off I went!
The train trip was great. It was a beautiful morning and I got to see all the places on the way into San Francisco—do you know they also have a Lafayette? Then comes Oakland - who hasn’t heard of Oakland? If only for the football team! From Oakland the train dives under San Francisco Bay; so I came up into the heart of the city and was immediately impressed. Everything is so clean and the atmosphere is almost palatable.
Never shy to ask for help, I knew I had to catch a trolley car to Pier 33 to get onto the Alcatraz Cruise. Oh, this was exciting. I boarded the trolley asked the driver if he would tell me where to get off; as if I was the only one disembarking at that stop…I wasn’t! This was
Exersize Yard
The island is just 1.5 miles from the city. Can you imagine how hard it must've been for these guys to look out and see what they were missing a Thursday, the place was wall to wall people—why aren’t they at work???? Because they are on vacation!!! I couldn’t identify all the languages. I recognized the Limeys, Aussies, German, Italian, French and Polish but there were folks from all over the world I am sure. Anyway, the National Parks Service administers programmes on the island and the cruises are run under their umbrella. I got there at 10 a.m. the boat carries + 350 people every half hour and the earliest boat I could get on departed at noon. I spent a very pleasant hour and a half strolling around the wharf, looking at the exhibits and enjoying a very expensive muffin and cup of coffee!!
The boat left on the dot and to say the trip was wonderful is an understatement. The views of the city were great and the experience of Alcatraz Island is something I’ll remember. The guys that spent “time” incarcerated there deserved to be there for sure. But….
When you look out across the Bay to San Francisco from the island, it is hard to understand why there were so few break out attempts. It is only 1.5 miles. During the time Alcatraz
Cell
There are four cell blocks in the prison. A Block was not used. There is a total of 336 cells in B & C blocks. Some of the inmates were quite tallented, pity they didn't use it for the good. was a federal prison 1576 prison numbers were issued (although the number of inmates was less because some did multiple terms on Alcatraz.) Thirty six guys did try their luck and all but five were either recaptured or accounted for. In 1946 a guy named Bernie Coy using modified spoons, chipped his way through the concrete wall at the back of the cell and into the utility cavity. He overcame the guard and released five other inmates who took the remaining guards in the block hostage and pushed them into one of the vacated cells. The escape siren went off and the inmates panicked and shot five of their hostages. They were cornered. The Marines shelled the prison and in the end two guards and three inmates were killed. The two remaining inmates were later executed. There was one break out that was related in Clint Eastwood's movie "Escape from Alcatraz," three of the unaccounted for escapees participated in that attempt.
I spent all most of the day touring Alcatraz so didn't have time to look around the city, but from what I did see I like San Francisco and intend to come back and stay for a longer
D Block
There are 42 cells in D block, also known as Isolation. The prisoners came out of their cell once a week to shower. Robert Stroud (Bird Man) spent 6 years in one of these cells. Al Capone also spent time here stretch in the spring.
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Al.
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Hehee
The picture with Al.. You looked quite at home Lyn!