A Day on The Rock
Leaving downtown San Francisco behind as our ferry speeds toward Alcatraz.
Nothing ever goes quite the way you plan it. On the way home to New Jersey this year, we had a long layover in San Francisco – over 10 hours, in fact. I thought this would be a great chance to explore the city, but there were several delays at the airport, leaving us with no time for most of our planned activities. No Fisherman’s Wharf, no Lombard Street, no Golden Gate Bridge.
Oh, well. We still had just enough time to do one fun thing: a 3-hour tour of Alcatraz, the most famous prison in American history. It was a great way to spend the remainder of our day.
Alcatraz, also known as The Rock, was an island prison that housed some of of the most infamous criminals in the U.S. until it was closed in 1963. The island is visible from the popular wharf area of San Francisco, and you can easily take a ferry from there.
The city offers official “tours,” which I had booked online a few weeks in advance. However, the tour is actually just a ferry ride. Once you get off the boat, you can roam around Alcatraz at your own pace.
There are several interesting areas to explore on the small island, but the main prison in the center is obviously the most important. Rusted steel bars, concrete walls, peeling paint – this is what I imagined, and what I had seen in movies. Many of the cells have old items and trinkets that the prisoners might have had, so you can imagine how they looked.
There are lots of other structures around the main prison, and plenty of information about life on The Rock. One of the most interesting things I learned is that the prison was very expensive to operate because there is no fresh water on the island. Water had to be regularly brought in by boat – a very expensive process.
In addition, I was interested to learn about the Indians of All Tribes occupation of the island, which occurred a few years after the prison closed. Alcatraz is very closely tied to the Native American protest movement, so it’s an important part of the history there.
If you have a chance to visit San Francisco, I highly suggest you leave more time for yourself than I did…but Alcatraz is definitely worth the trip!