Day 5- Escape from Alcatraz, Fishermans Wharf, Ghiradelli Square, Lombard St and a hidden little gem

I was trying to think up an introduction to the day, but I decided that the following would be enough...

We're going to Alcatraz.

The day was broken up into a few stages..

1) Pre Alcatraz
2) Alcatraz
3) Post Alcatraz
    a. Fisherman's Barf(wharf)
    b. Ghiradelli Square
    c. Lombard St.- the crookedest street in the world
    d. Belden Place

1) Pre Alcatraz

Nothing much here, just a few photos of the City. We headed down early as we knew it would be insanely busy. Boats to Alcatraz leave about every 30 minutes and tickets need to be booked a week in advance.

Foggy morning

Ferry Building

Embarcadero Centre

Transamerica Pyramid

Coit Tower. You can go up there, but its up a hill, which doesn't interest us because we've walked up a bunch of other hills. You also have to pay $3 to go to the top, which just isn't going to happen. Sorry Mr. Coit, you ain't gettin my dolla billz.

You'll see this photo in your local Ikea store soon. 

So once we got to the appropriate Pier, we looked at a crappy gift shop and I ate a Krispy Kreme donut and we waited until it was time to board the vessel. 

2) Alcatraz

To keep from boring the Russian readers of this blog, please click here for a detailed history of Alcatraz Island
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcatraz

The Rock, as Sean Connery and I named it is located 1.5 miles offshore of San Francisco.

Alcatraz was originally established as a defensive point during the civil war, to keep those mother effers from the south from coming into San Francisco and messing with the wallet of the North...California Gold. During this time, it was also used to house military prisoners who were hard to keep control of. After the war, it was decided that its best use was for long-term detention of military prisoners. After the US Military got sick of Alcatraz, they handed it over to the US Penal System (I know you laughed, lets move on).

As a federal prison, Alcatraz was designed to hold prisoners that proved troublesome at other facilities...basically, if your break the rules you go to prison. If you break the rules there, you go to Alcatraz. During the 29 years of operation, Alcatraz was home to high profile prisoners including Al Capone, the Birdman of Alcatraz, Machine Gun Kelly, Creepy Carpis and Doc Barker, among others. Ranger John pointed out that the depiction of the Birdman by hollywood couldnt be further off base. After the release of the movie, petitions with tens of thousands of names came pouring in calling for his release, so they granted him a parole hearing. The parole board asked why he wanted out and he responded `I have more people to kill``. An all around nice guy. 

When we arrived to the Island, we were greeted by a nice gentleman who called himself Ranger John. He gave a brief little talk that I didn't pay much attention to and then noted that he'd be leading a tour on the major escape attempts at Alcatraz. Sold. 

There were 14 attempts to escape involving 36 inmates.  While the penitentiary claims that no one was ever 
successful, 5 inmates are still unaccounted for and wanted. They are presumed dead, claimed by the 50 degree waters of San Francisco Bay, overwhelmed by the 8 knot currents. Either way, you have to hand it to these guys. The escaped the inescapable with incredible plans and enviable patience. Many of the prisoners have claimed that it wasn't incarceration that led them to consider or attempt to escape, it was being in prison, in San Francisco, within a close enough range to hear laughter at night, smell the chocolate from Ghiradelli Square and see the activity from the rec yard. If you were in prison in the desert it wouldn't matter. But being in prison with views of San Francisco created a significant amount of psychological torture for the inmates. 

To read more on the attempts, click here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Alcatraz_escape_attempts. Do it. Seriously. Just read it.

One of the most interesting things about Alcatraz during its operation is that 50 guards and their families lived on the island. Imagine growing up or raising kids on an island that is home to the most inhumane men in the United States!

Alcatraz is owned and operated by the National Parks Service and they do a fantastic job with tours, information and caretaking of the facility. With many movies and dozens of TV shows filming over the years, all of the revenue is put back into renovating the facility. The tours must be a bit of a cash cow as well, 1.3 million visitors a year at 20 bucks a pop (well worth it). The audio tour is a must, it is narrated by former prison guards and inmates and takes you through a tour of the bighouse on the island. Incredibly interesting! The only complaint I have is that the water tower is being restored, which in the long run is good, but I wish it was in its rugged form for photos.

 Sign at the entry to the island. 

 The Barracks/Apartments building greets you upon entry to the island. This was home to the guards and their families during the time the Rock operated as a prison

Barracks, Guard Tower and Guardhouse in the background. 

Remains of the Officers Club, which acted as a rec facility for guards and their families. This "mysteriously" burned down during the Native American occupation in 1969, which lasted for almost 2 years. See here for more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupation_of_Alcatraz

Guardhouse & Sally Port. This was more well used during the military days as a defensive position along the only road leading into the island.

View of the lighthouse, Warden's house (again, burned during the occupation) and Cellhouse where the bad boyz stayed. 

View of the gardens and the Storage/Warehouse with the stack from the Power Plant in the background

Typical 9x5 cell. 

The rules of the Rock. 

View from the Rec Yard.

Rec Yard 

Rec Yard/Cellhouse entry

D Block Cell. Solitary Confinement. 

D Block. 

Prison Library

Library and cells in background

somebody took a big poo for that to happen

The tool used to bend the bars that started a crazy w day battle inside Alcatraz that involved 6 prisoners, guards, even the army. In the end, 3 inmates died, 2 guards were killed in cold blood and 12 others were injured. Read here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_alcatraz

Read about it here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_alcatraz

The Gun Gallery. No guards on the floor had guns to prevent something like the Battle of Alcatraz from happening. But they prisoners figured out how to get keys, got into the gallery and started one hell of a war. 

One of the windows from the corridor. 

The cells to the left were the most sought after in the facility, with sunrise and sunset views. 

Lighthouse and Wardens House, just outside the front entry of the Cellhouse

Entry to the cellhouse

1 of 3 cells where the guys chipped through the concrete and got into the utility corridor between cells. The climbed up the stacks to the roof, shimmied down an exterior drainpipe and were off!

Industry Building- inmates had jobs doing laundry for federal services (inspiring a book called Al Capone does my laundry), made rubber mats for navy ships and a variety of other things. Many materials for breakout attempts were collected here. 

The view that may inmates wish they`d had. 

3) Post Alcatraz

a. Fishermans Barf. 

I`m not writing much as I don`t have anything nice to say (see Mom, I learned!). This is a major tourist area and it reminds me a lot of Niagara Falls, a place that I can`t stand either. Whats the point of having 50 tourist shops all selling the same crap. The one thing I will write that is really cool is the SeaLions at Pier 39. Apparently they just started taking over the Marine, so they created a dedicated spot for them 22 years ago to sun themselves in the harbour, free from rough waters. You can view them on webcam here http://www.pier39.com/SeaLion/sea_lion_webcam.htm

Other than that, this area sucked. I swear, the only photos we took were of the seals, and we're taking a few hundred photos a day. 

3 b. Ghiradelli Square

Located near but way from the stench of Fishermans Barf is Ghiradelli Square, a national landmark and rightly so. It is just now completing an extensive renovation. It was originally purchased in 1893 by Domingo Ghiradelli to be home to his chocolate factory which was bought by a macaroni company in the 1960s and moved off-site. A rich San Francisco and his momma bought the site to prevent a condo development and hired a team to convert the factory structure into an integrated retail/restaurant complex, the first adaptive re-use project in the US. 

What a fabulous re-use...this is like the starting point for Distillery District in Toronto. I can't say enough about how fantastic this space is...I don't even know how to describe it. 

We stopped and had iced cream...

This was the view

3 c. Lombard St- The curviest street in the world

I don't have much to add, other than this is very cool 

3 d. Belden Place

This is an absolute gem. Tucked into an alleyway between Bush and Pine is a group of eight restaurants located on a tight little  lane. I love spaces like this, they're intimate, you don't seek them, you discover them. Its a nice space tucked away in the City.

I'd like to gush more over this, because I think spaces like this are amazing, but I'm tired, so here's the website. We ate at Taverna and it was fantastic.


http://www.belden-place.com/view/history/