Alcatraz, San Francisco 5/7/2011 [Back to Photo Page] [Back to Bay Area]

Alcatraz Island, situated east of the Golden Gate in San Francisco Bay, was a lonely island for thousands of years until 1850s when the US government began fortifying the island as part of US Army's western defense plan.  More than 400 soldiers were stationed on the island, and cannon batteries guarded nearly every flank.  The fort  was decommissioned in 1907, and Alcatraz was reopened in 1934 as a federal prison as high-profile maximum-security facility.  There were 14 attempted escapes from the "Rock", but none of them has been proven to be successful.  In 1963, US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered Alcatraz to be closed due to increasing maintenance of operating costs.  In 1972, Congress created the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and made Alcatraz a part of GGNRA, and preserved the rich nature and history of Alcatraz for generations in the future.

Getting there ...

Believe it or not, it was our first time to visit Alcatraz since we moved to the San Francisco Bay Area 20 years ago.  We drove to SF after lunch, and got there around 2PM for our scheduled ferry tour at 2:20PM.

• Alcatraz Island
  It's about 15-min ride from Pier 33 to Alcatraz Island. It was quite windy on the ferry, but fortunately, the wind was not too chilly on this particularly day in San Francisco Bay. We (Linus, Iris, and I) stayed in the open space of the upper deck to enjoy the sunny sun and windy wind.

• Alcatraz Cellhouse
  The audio tour was provided to everyone who entered the cellhouse.  It covers stories about the penitentiary era (1934 - 1963) including some of the notorious prisoners and several escape attempts.

   

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