Welcome to The Rock

A little over 4 years ago, I visited Alcatraz for the first time as a tourist and on this recent trip, I brought out-of-town visitors. To see my 2008 posts, start here.
Today, by Pier 33 where passengers wait to take the Alcatraz ferry is a huge model of the island.

During the 20 minute ferry ride, you can see the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance and Alcatraz Island come into view.

Before we disembarked, I took a picture of the lower deck of the ferry.
There is plenty of room indoors, but most people prefer to be on the upper decks with no windows to hamper the view of the scenery.

From the ferry's upper open deck, you can see Building 64, what used to be residential apartments for the guards who worked on the island and previous to that it housed soldiers when the island was a military prison.

This was once the Officer's Club where it served as a general store when the island was a military prison in the early 1900's. When the island was converted into a federal prison in 1934, it served as a recreation hall, gym, 2-lane bowling alley and soda fountain for the prison guards. Unfortunately, it was destroyed by fire in 1970 and all that is left is the concrete skeleton.

The highlight of visiting Alcatraz, in my opinion, is going through a self-guided audio tour of the cellhouse at the top of the island. Included with the price of the round-trip ferry ride, visitors walk through the interior with headsets listening to recorded voices of former guards and prisoners. The audio is available in multiple languages and it is highly recommended.

If you have seen the old Clint Eastwood movie "Escape from Alcatraz", you might remember the opening in this cell. After working for months on an escape plan, on June 11, 1962, three inmates escaped from Alcatraz through their cell's 6"x9" vent. To date, no one allegedly knows what happened to them. You can read more about this successful escape here.

This row is the Isolation area and is said to be haunted. It is reserved for the most dangerous or violent inmates who were not allowed to leave their cells for exercise. The cells with the heavy doors were known as "The Hole" where prisoners are shrouded in complete darkness for days and given a restricted diet.
There are some night tours and even overnight tours of Alcatraz, but I prefer day tours just in case these ghosts are real. :D

A docent gives a talk at the prison's former mess hall.

According to the sign at the entrance to the mess hall, experienced inmates thought Alcatraz served the best food of all the Federal prisons. One of the prison regulations was "Take all that you wish, eat all that you take."

After 29 years in operations, Alcatraz closed on March 21, 1963 due to growing operating expenses.
The menu you see at the top is the last meal served here.

Behind the bars where all those people in the previous photo were looking at is the prison's kitchen. Yes, inmates worked here and used sharp utensils. The board to the far left is an outline of all the knives used in the kitchen. The outline made it easier for guards to spot any missing utensils.
- Karen