subject: Visiting Lombard And Alcatraz [print this page] San Francisco is one of the top cities to visit because of its many different tourist attractions. One of the most popular sites to see is Lombard Street.
Lombard Street is known as the crookedest street in the world. However, it is in fact not the crookedest or the steepest street in the city.
Even tourist discover this, the landmark does not diminish in popularity at all. This street is the site of many famous car chases filmed for movies.
It features eight switchbacks on a 40 degree sloped hill. Driving down this windy street is a must every time a person visits this city for the first time.
Another popular attraction is Alcatraz Island. This island is 1.5 miles into the San Francisco Bay.
This island originally was the home of lighthouse. Later it became a military fortification and a prison.
It served as a prison until 1963. The building remained unused on the island until 1972 when it became a popular landmark.
The landmark is operated by National Park Service which offers tours of the buildings to the visitors who come to the area. Tourists can reach the island by ferry from Fisherman's Wharf or Pier 33.
Fisherman's Wharf is another very popular landmark and there are many things to see there while you are waiting for the next ferry to leave. Alcatraz prison has been used in many movies, TV shows, cartoon, books, comics, and games.
The first mention of the island of Alcatraz dates back to 1775 when Juan Manuel de Ayala, a Spaniard, wrote down his charts of the San Francisco area. He dubbed the island 'La Isla de los Alcatraces.'
Alcatraces translates from Spanish to English as the word 'pelicans, but the word has roots in an Arabic word which means 'sea eagle.' This term is very fitting as sea gulls enjoy this island as a place for resting from flight.
The United States Census Bureau included the island in a survey later. It was officially entitles Block 1067, Block Group 1, Census Tract 179.02 in San Francisco County.
In the 2000 census there was no permanent population on the island. The lighthouse that was originally on the island is still found onsite and it still works.
It is officially the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast of the United States. The military fortifications that were built here are also still standing.
Other varieties of birds are also found on this island such as cormorants and egrets. Rock pools are also popular and are often a favorite part with children.
The first kind of prisoners that the prison housed was those related to the Civil War in 1861. The building itself was hard enough to escape from, let along the fact that the prison was surrounded by the ferocious waters of the San Francisco Bay.
At the end of the war, it was decided that the island needed to undergo extensive efforts in order to truly become an effective asset to the military. Officials decided to level the top and create underground tunnels and magazines.
However, this task wan never finished. Instead, they decided that the island was better suited to becoming a more permanent prison rather than a military base.
As a result, they decided to build a brick jailhouse instead. The prisoners who had been kept here before had simply been kept in the military base.
In 1868 it was officially made a long term prison. Among the original prisoners were many of the Hopi Native American men.
It was not until the Spanish-American war in 1898 that the prisoner number increased significantly. Before the war, the occupation level was only twenty six.
By the end of the war, the prison was home to more than four hundred and fifty prisoners. The 1906 earthquake caused the inland civilian prisoners to be moved to this prison as well.
The prison itself was built on top of the old military building. Everything of the military building was destroyed down to the first level which was located underground.
This first level is the basement of the prison. Soon after the completion of the building, the first level became rumored to be dungeons.
In 1933, the military decided to stop using Alcatraz as a prison. The prisoners were moved to other locations.
However, during World War I, conscientious objectors were contained here. Including the famous Philip Grosser, who wrote 'Uncle Sam's Devil's Island.'
Today the prison is simply a tourist attraction. However, it does have many exciting escape stories.
