Pictures of Alcatraz

These are pictures from a tour of Alcatraz Island in August 2001. This was on the Alcatraz After Dark tour. Basically the way this works is they have a couple of later trips where you can't wander around so much of the island alone, but there are some additional guided tours. It's somewhat more expensive but it includes the excellent audio guide of Alcatraz Prison (which is usually a few bucks extra). You want to book these well in advance, since they are quite popular and they only run two trips a night.

Picture of San Francisco
Looking back at San Francisco.

Picture of Alcatraz
This is the classic Alcatraz picture. The dock is on the far side of the island from San Francisco, so you get a nice mini-tour around the island.

Picture of Alcatraz
We've just docked, and this is looking towards the golden gate, which obviously is blocked by the island. Obviously the trip is well timed with sunset.

They actually have a San Francisco poster store at AllPosters.com with some surprisingly good stuff. Check it out.

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Go on to Alcatraz After Dark Part Two - inside the prison.

There are a ton of movies and books about Alcatraz. If you're going to visit, it does make it even more cool if you know a bit of the history going in. Many of them are really bad, but here are some items that are worth a look.

Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
This is the classic Clint Eastwood movie about the true story of an escape attempt in 1962. Clint Eastwood plays a prisoner and Patrick McGoohan plays the warden. This is a great movie, and is supposed to be quite accurate about what life on Alcatraz was really like.

Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
Burt Lancaster stars as Robert Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz (and as nominated for an Oscar for his effort). This was a very interesting guy. The movie focuses on his time at Alcatraz and the themes of redemption and his attempts to better himself in prison. However the people who spent time as guards at Alcatraz are very quick to remind you that he was a psychopathic killer, and at Alcatraz for a reason! I liked this movie a lot, but don't buy it out of historical interest; buy it because it's a good movie.