Now a National Park, this rocky island was once home to one of the most feared prisons in the United States.
Between 1934 and 1963, the prison on Alcatraz Island housed criminals such as the likes of Al Pacino, Alvin Carpis and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Standing on the mainland and gazing out to the rocky island, it’s not difficult to see why Alcatraz law-breakers of the day were filled with such dread at the utterance of its name, with its stormy weather and bleak isolation.
You can get to Alcatraz Island by ferry. Taking 15 minutes, the Alcatraz Cruises ferry leaves Pier 33 at the Embarcadero. Included in the price of a round-trip ferry ticket is a cell house audio tour, but it’s also worth joining one of the free tours run by the Alcatraz National Park volunteers and guides. Alternatively, just pick up a brochure at the ferry landing and see the island in your own time.
Head to the penal colony to peer into the cellblocks that once held some of the most notorious criminals of the day. In the walled exercise yard, the apparent proximity of San Francisco must have been both frustrating and tempting for the inmates. The island is also home to the first lighthouse on the USA’s West Coast, originally constructed in 1854 and then rebuilt in 1909.
An escape from Alcatraz was pretty much an impossible task, but that didn’t stop 36 people from trying during the 29 years that the prison was in use. Of those 36, 23 were caught, 6 were killed and the rest were believed to have fallen victim of the icy waters and dangerous currents of San Francisco Bay.
A year before the prison closed in 1963, three inmates managed to dig through their cell walls and escape, leaving dummies in their beds to trick the authorities. Although their bodies were never found, they were all presumed dead after attempting to swim through the treacherous waters to the mainland.
You’ll easily spend a couple of hours on the Rock, and you can stay on the island until the last ferry of the day, which departs at 4.25 pm. It’s a good idea to buy your ferry tickets in advance, particularly in summer, as the island is a popular tourist attraction.
