The alarm clock went off on Thursday July 26, 2018 at 5:30am; which was a half-hour earlier than normal. My photographer and his wife had heard that parking was expensive and hard to find in downtown San Francisco, which prompted them to rely on Uber for a ride into town. The three of us had 8:30am tickets for the ferry ride out to Alcatraz Island; and not knowing what to expect with Uber, Tom wanted to leave Mill Valley no later than 6:45am. Once our chauffeur picked us up in his Toyota Prius, the drive across the Golden Gate Bridge into town went quickly; there was hardly any traffic at all. And to our surprise, the 12-mile ride wasn’t overly expensive; it cost less than twenty-five dollars including the tip.
When we arrived at Pier 33, which was where the excursion to Alcatraz Island would begin, we had over an hour to kill. With the extra time, my camera man and his wife walked the short distance to Pier 39 to see the famous sea lions. Although the shops and venues in Pier 39 had not opened yet, we were able to find the area of small docks where the sea lions normally congregate. And it wasn’t difficult to find the docks as the mammals were quite loud; which was no surprise as there were 75 to 100 sea lions there. Besides the wild sea lions that we saw, Pier 39 looked like a tourist trap that was filled with expensive souvenirs and tee shirts. We spent roughly 40 minutes altogether at Pier 39 before we made our short stroll back to the Alcatraz pier. In some parts of the downtown area, fog was an issue and made it difficult to see some of the famous structures; the TransAmerica Pyramid and Coit Tower were two that were hard to see due to the low visibility. My photographer had concerns about whether or not the fog would hinder our tour of Alcatraz Island, but after a 35-minute wait in line, we were on the boat and headed out to “The Rock”.
Throughout our entire wait in line to board the ferry, as well as the 15-minute boat ride to Alcatraz, the guiding principles of the island were read over and over to us. The one rule that stuck in my resin-filled mind was: “You can take pictures, but don’t take anything else from the island – not even a rock.” That was the moment when I had wondered if my photographer would try to add a memento to his collection – like a rock from The Rock!
Once my photographer and his wife had set foot onto Alcatraz Island, they were thankful that they had worn warmer clothes. The weather was cold and windy; and the quote they had heard from the Uber driver made sense: “The coldest winter I’ve ever experienced was July in San Francisco.” It was a long, uphill walk from the ferry dock to the actual prison Main Cell Block. During our hike, we got a good look at the guard tower that Inspector Harry Callahan had blown to bits in the movie “The Enforcer”. Clint Eastwood’s character destroyed the tower when he fired a LAW rocket that killed People’s Revolutionary Strike Force leader Bobby Maxwell who had kidnapped the mayor of San Francisco. As we got closer to the cell block, we were afforded a close look at the water tower that had been restored in early 2012; the exterior was given a facelift that included replicating the graffiti left by the Native American occupation in 1969.
The first thing I noticed when I was carried into the Alcatraz prison cell block, the walls seemed to talk to me. What they said was: “Don’t steal anything or kill anyone.” After we looked at the shower area and a room where prisoner’s shaved and got dressed, I was taken up a set of stairs where the actual cells were located. Row after row of small rooms that had the bare minimum for human occupancy; but then again, the people that stayed there shouldn’t have expected the Hilton. The cells on ‘B’ and ‘C’ block, which was where most inmates were kept, were five-feet by nine-feet and featured a small sink with cold water, a small sleeping cot, a toilet, and a small metal table that was bolted to the wall. The atmosphere inside Alcatraz was eerie and at one point I heard my photographer say to his wife: “I couldn’t imagine staying here at night; especially knowing that 28 men died inside this prison.”
During our tour, we heard some names of famous prisoners who had served sentences at Alcatraz. A few of those men were Al Capone, George “Machine Gun” Kelly, and Robert Stroud, better known as the “Birdman of Alcatraz”. Ironically, Stroud was never allowed to breed and research canaries in Alcatraz; he did all of that work at Leavenworth prison before he was transferred to “The Rock”.
After spending some time in the prison block, all the cells started looking the same; and for the most part, they were all identical except some were in more disrepair than others. Then we arrived at three cells that were adjacent to each other; ones that once housed Frank Morris, and brothers John and Clarence Anglin. As we looked through the plexiglass that protected the front of each cell, we saw what appeared to be dummies resting on the cot and the grating beneath each sink was removed. It turned out that those three prisoners had escaped from Alcatraz on June 11, 1962 after a six-month elaborate plan that was hatched by Morris and carried out by the three. With homemade life preservers and a life raft, the three escaped and headed for the mainland in the middle of the night. Presumed drowned, their bodies were never found and most believe they were the only prisoners to successfully escape from Alcatraz.
When our tour of the Main Cell Block was finished, it was time for the three of us to return to the boat dock for the ride back to the mainland. We had spent three hours on the island, and it was a tour that everyone should experience at some point in their life. Luckily for all involved, the hike back to the ferry dock was downhill. At one point during the walk, I noticed my photographer had stopped to take a closeup photo of a certain rock that he saw; then out of nowhere that rock seemed to disappear. Once we were on board the Alcatraz Clipper, we sat near the back of the ferry where we had a great view of the island. We had escaped from Alcatraz; but somehow, I knew a part of “The Rock” was still with us.
