Coit Tower
Coit Tower is the place to get great shots of downtown San Francisco—preferably with more cooperative weather.
View from Coit Tower
The view of downtown San Francisco from the top of Coit Tower.
View from Coit Tower
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View from Coit Tower
The winding section of Lombard Street is visible (though blurry) way in the distance.
Alcatraz from Coit Tower
Still in Coit Tower, looking toward Alcatraz.
En route to Alcatraz
On the dock, preparing to board the ferry to Alcatraz. The official Alcatraz site is here. However, the Alcatraz History site looks to be far more in depth with lots of pictures, write-ups, and diagrams, including wonderful graphical layouts of the island and the cell house.
Approaching Alcatraz
This profile of Alcatraz Island kind of looks like a ship.
Approaching Alcatraz
By the way, the actual name is La Isla de los Alcatraces, which means Island of the Pelicans. The name was given in 1775 by Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala.
Building 64
After getting off the ferry, visitors first walk past Building 64 which served as residential apartments.
Visitation area
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"Broadway" between B and C Blocks
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A typical cell—5' by 9'
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A Block
A Block is closed off. The sign reads, "The Army built this cell house in 1912. When it was remodeled into a Federal Penitentiary in 1934, A Block was not modernized. It still retains the old flat bars and key locks of the military prison days. During the Federal Penitentiary years, 1934-1963, prisoners were almost never kept in A Block. These cells were used for study areas, typing rooms, and storage of cleaning materials."
Tammy
I guess I haven't yet mentioned that my friend, Tammy, was with me this day. I first knew her from college. She lived in Windsor, just a few minutes north of Santa Rosa where my cousin and her husband were living at the time.
Al Capone was here
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Dining room
The dining room, otherwise known as the gas chamber—which is ironic, considering Alcatraz had no capital punishment facilities.
D Block
The segregation and solitary (dark) cells on D Block.
Replica cell
This cell was dressed with replicas of tools used to cut away at the grill for escape attempts.
Replica cell
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Paper mache head
A replica of the paper mache heads some prisoners used to make guards think they were asleep when they were actually making an escape attempt.
Utility corridor
The carved out grills led to a narrow utility corridor between cell blocks.
Upper utility corridor
The corridors ran all the way up and escapees climbed through to reach the roof.
Library
The library, located on the south end of D Block. Prisoners did not come here to check out books. Book were brought to their cells by request, and disciplinary action was taken if a prisoner intentionally defaced a book.
The exercise yard on the northwest corner of the cell house
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Tammy again
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Tammy stole my camera!
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Golden Gate Bridge from Alcatraz
This was the first I'd seen Golden Gate Bridge from the island. It was completely obscured in fog when we arrived.
Parade grounds
The former military parade grounds and some of the demolished residential family quarters.
Demolished residential family quarters
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Cell house exterior
Exterior of the cell house—specifically looking at D Block. The exercise yard is out of frame to the left.
Tourist piers
Back on the mainland, looking off to some of the tourist piers. Hmm, what's that all over the docks?
Sea lions
A popular hangout, apparently!
Sea lions
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Pier 39
Pier 39.
Lombard Street
Lombard Street, the world's most crooked street. Yes, I drove down it. If you've been to San Francisco, you know it's almost hard not to at least once. One end ends up at Telegraph Hill where Coit Tower is located, and the other end eventually ends up as one of the major roadways into Golden Gate Bridge.
Update: It's not the most crooked! It may be longer, but it has been brought to my attention that Vermont Street is more crooked.
Lombard Street distant
Looking back down Lombard Street from the foot of Telegraph Hill and Coit Tower.
Exploratorium
The Exploratorium. Probably one of the coolest hands-on science museums you'll ever see.
Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
It was a cruddy day trying to take photos of Golden Gate Bridge, but I returned in 2009 to have my revenge!
Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
I'm kind of a freak for standing at locations I've seen in movies. Obviously, I probably couldn't even count how many movies have had one or more scenes here at the Presidio. (Official National Park Service page and the Presidio's own home page.) But the two I know of best are Star Trek IV when Kirk and Spock are supposedly walking back from the Cetacean Institute (in reality, this is a dead-end road, as you can see in this photo), and Bicentennial Man, starring Robin Williams. The parking area you see here was converted to an outdoor market and Fort Point was dressed as the entrance to Rupert's lab.
Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
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Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
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Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
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Golden Gate Bridge in the fog
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On the bridge
A quick (and rather poor) shot through the windshield as I drove across the bridge.
Rental car
This is the Plymouth Breeze I had rented—the car the got me itching to get rid of my '93 Sonoma. I initially satisfied my desire for a car with a '96 Saturn, but finally got a Dodge Stratus a year later—the car I really wanted, at the time. But that's all part of another story. Anyway, as you can see, it seems it's only San Francisco that's plagued with fog so often. Here, at my cousin's townhome in Santa Rosa, it was nice and sunny—as it should be in July.
