Kats and Blogs

Spring Break Day 5. Alcatraz.

In San Francisco we were lucky to stay with Jon’s Uncle Rich and Aunt Jenny.  We love being able to see family on vacation.  The first night we got in, we talked with Jenny for a couple hours and she suggested we go to Alcatraz.  It was a suggestion Jon and I both hadn’t thought of, but were both immediately on board.   I’m so glad we went too.  It was such a neat experience! And, for the first time our whole trip, we had sunshine and clear skies! Hallelujah!

Our tour started in the morning, about 9 or so.  We were really lucky that we could just show up and get tickets.  There are times of the year when you have to buy tickets weeks in advance!

You have to walk up several steep hills to get to the Alcatraz prison, but as soon as you get there they set you up for the audio tour.  They had stations set up for different languages.

It felt so eerie inside Alcatraz.  Especially the way they stacked and cramped the prisoners really got to me.  Not that I don’t know they all (hopefully) deserved to be there, but I visited the Salt Lake prison once on a college class trip and it didn’t have the same atmosphere at all.  Alcatraz felt like walking through a real haunted house.

Here you can see the levels of cells really well.  The cutoff was a walkway that cut through the middle of the prison rows.

Every row/area of the prison had a nickname like “Times Square.”  It showed how they had their own little culture.

This is the library.

This board showed how a prisoner broke out of his cell once by creating this device to push the bars a part.  Once he got out he grabbed the keys, let out some of his friends,  stole a gun off a guard, and shot several officers point blank.  They had a whole memorial set up and it made me sad for the officer’s families.

The recreation yard where you can see all of San Francisco.  That must have added a whole new element of torture for the prisoners when they could actually see what they were missing.

Some men were able to spend an hour a day outside, but others may have only gotten an hour a week depending on your behavior.

Here is a picture of what the average inmate’s cell would’ve looked like. They were 5 x 7 x 9 feet.

In Alcatraz’s history, there were many failed escape attempts by men who more often then not, ended up being shot or drowned in the waters.

The most notable escape took place in 1962 when three men, after months of preparation, escaped through holes they made in their cells by chipping away the cement with spoons.  They had placed dummy heads in their beds so the escape wasn’t discovered until long after they were gone.  The men’s bodies were never found in the ocean, and they’ve never been accounted for on land so its hard to know if this was a successful escape.  A movie was made about it that starred Clint Eastwood.  Has anybody seen this movie? I’ve been thinking Jon and I might want to watch it now that we’ve been to the scene of the crime…

They made the dummy heads using a creative paper mache mixture with what little supplies they had, painted the heads using their prison art supplies, and then stole hair from the barbershop.

Here is the kitchen.  They said the cafeteria was one of the most dangerous places because the inmates could easily start riots and fights.  For this reason, they installed gas into the ceiling that they could easily unleash as a threat to the inmates to stay in line.

The kitchen knife set was hung up in place by that knife’s silhouette so the guards could instantly know if, and which one, was missing.

This is the Alcatraz garden.  The building in this picture was where the families of many of the officers lived.  This fact was very surprising to me; I had never thought anybody but the prisoners stayed on the island.  The tour had audio from the children (who are still alive today) who used to live there.  They’d say things like “Yeah, it was totally normal.” (what?) ” We’d take the boat to school in the morning, and then com back to Alcatraz at night.  It wasn’t any different than living in a small town.”  ummm, except that you lived at Alcatraz?!?!?

The lookout tower.  During one of the escape attempts, two prisoners climbed up and tried to overtake the guarding officer.  They were both shot and killed.

That’s the Golden Gate bridge in the background!

Alcatraz was such a neat tour.  I would highly recommend it to anyone visiting San Francisco.  It’s a little pricey but something you have to do at least once in your life.  Just make sure you plan ahead so its not sold out the week you are in town!

I’ll be posting about the rest of our day in San Francisco soon.  I promise.