Today we headed to Alcatraz. A bit of a walk to Pier 33, on our pre booked trip. You have to pre book. There are literally 100 people arriving every 25-30 mins throughout the day by ferry, each of which is booked up. Soooo many people heading to 'The Rock'. Scene of Clint Eastwood's famous escape film. You know the one.
So we took a very packed boat, all wearing masks because it's going to a federal place. Where there is absolutely no food, no eating or drinking (except water) allowed.
To make it to Alcatraz, the prison, you had to have met a couple of criteria:
Committed a federal crime.
Been a difficult inmate in another prison and so moved.
I feel as if I could have made it.
Prior to being a prison it was an army base. Constructed to protect San Francisco and the bay area. Later army prisoners and conscientious objectors were (often cruelly) housed there. If you refused to fight in 1918, you could be shipped there, kept in a 'coffin cell' (clue on size in the name) for 14 days, fed on bread and water with no toilet and no bed. Oh. And you wouldn't be let out for the entire fortnight. Some inmates were still there after the war had ended.
The army prisoners were different. They were allowed to do jobs like babysit the children of the guards who also lived on the island. As you do.
Native American peoples were also shipped there if they refused to get off their lands. Or give up their children on demand. It's a place with a cheery history.
Once the army left the government took it on as a full prison. They built a group of cells 3 'streets' wide and three layers tall. With a separate area for 'treatment' of psychopathic/ very difficult individuals. There was a recreational area, a dining room where prisoners were very well fed actually, a library, a large kitchen and a visitation suite. There were gardens and places for the staff to live.
The streets were called Broadway, Madison Avenue and a place I understood to be called Seedy Street. This was until I saw the sign and realised that, due to the block coding, it was actually C-D Street.
When we arrived Ranger Benny gave us an orientation walk, then Ranger Wendy took us for a short tour towards the audio tour pick up place. I lost NN2 for about 20 mins when I went to the loo and he was still on the tour. Walked around asking staff if they had seen 'a lad in red converse'. When found his response to this was, 'what d'you do that for?'
Anyway, the tour was good. Informative and interesting. In the film Clint hatches a plan to escape on a raft made of raincoats which were stitched together. THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. The idea came from a magazine the inmates read in the library called something like, Mechanics Monthly, in which readers were shown step by step instructions on how to make a raft out of raincoats.
One of the escapees was a barber, who saved the hair he chopped off his customers to make three hairy heads to hide in the beds and fool the night guards. They escaped by tunnelling out of the wall with drills (spoons were mentioned, but not sure where they came into it), shinning up an inside vent and down an outside drain. Then they paddled two miles on their raincoat raft. Their clothes were found in a nearby island, so authorities came to the conclusion that they had drowned. The actual outcome is a mystery..
Finally, (which could have had a bigger part in the exhibition) was the impact Alcatraz had on the rights of Native Americans. There was a law in the last century which said that if the government were not using federal lands they could be returned to the Native peoples. However, the government always broke these laws. So, to demonstrate about this, a group of Native Americans and sympathisers moved to the island and lived there for 19 months. They were well supported (Jane Fonda sent them generators) and it was well publicised. The effects of their stay was an awakening of the rights of Native peoples across the US. I was told today.
Following the audio tour, we wandered down and took the ferry back. On the way we stopped and had some dim sum. Which NN2 thought was OK.
After a brief trip back to the hotel, we decided to catch a cable car. I was very excited about this! The cars have been running for 150 years. They go up and down the steepest streets using wooden blocks as breaks. These are levered down towards the floor and you know they are working when you smell burning wood (only 3 brake accidents in 150 years!). They cars are also beautifully made out of wood. When travelling, if you want to stand on the external running board you can. I did. It was very exhilarating.
Tomorrow we are moving on, so needed to organise a bit. We packed our dirty laundry and I brought it down to one of the launderettes. I quite like a launderette. I treated myself to a cold drink and I'm sat here writing today's blog.
Root beer is..unusual and has a taste I'd like to describe as medicinal.
NN2 has popped off to the shops. He came back with two t-shirts, a hoodie and some new sweets.
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