Photocosm

Alcatraz Again - Part 2

It was a beautiful day at Alcatraz when the boat docked. That lighthouse still works, you can see it all around the bay. There are two buildings just beneath the lighthouse. I forget what the ruined one is, but the cream/beige building to the right is the main cell house of Alcatraz.

Most visitors never see this historical plaque, it's in the waiting area by the ferry dock, but not conspicuous. It's the official marker that identifies Alcatraz as a United States historical landmark. Notice the date, 1986, a long time after the prison was deactivated, in the 1960s.

As you walk the long ramp up the island, you pass the support buildings such as this one. There was an administration building, I believe, and there was the laundry, and the industrial/maintenance building.  You're also looking at most of Angel Island. It's the biggest island in the bay, and a state park.

Alcatraz is filled with photo opportunities, ordinary things in a different setting. Here's an example, the fire hydrant beside the ramp. The concrete reinforcement to the hillside and the flowers create an appealing image which is nevertheless just a fire hydrant. Look at how the gray concrete area seems to rise and fall like a wave from left to right.

Here's the guard tower of Alcatraz, no prison would be complete without one. It's your basic black model. Clint Eastwood ended up on Alcatraz for a Dirty Harry movie. This may be the tower he blew up with a shoulder-fired rocket. As I recall, the scene of the tower exploding and the terrorist falling off was a cheesy special effect.

Lots of aircraft flew over Alcatraz. Here's a helicopter which made a few passes, guess they wanted to make sure I got my photo. Nice of them.

The main cell block had a prison yard, large enough for many outdoor games, but with no view of the bay. I would have stayed longer, but somebody stole the croquet wickets and the tether ball.

Coming up soon...part three of the Alcatraz visit.

Alcatraz Part 1 - It's Still Bigger Than Rhode Island

Another year, another visit to Alcatraz, and that can only mean one thing: family members flew  to the Bay Area and dragged me to The Rock. The good news: I enjoyed it again. I know that because I shot 200 photos, and I don't think I've shot 200 photographs of anything else around here.

We begin at Pier 33 in San Francisco, along a street called Embarcadero. Lots of towns in California have a street by that name, Oakland does. It refers to the place where people and ships embark on a trip.

The roots of the word embark are interesting. There was a time before railroads and airplanes when travelers tried to steal aboard ships for long voyages. The first person known to have done this was Mr. Abraham Stowe of Vermont, who sneaked aboard a ship so he could enjoy a ski vacation in Aspen. His attempt failed after he was discovered hiding behind a stack of Belgian waffle crates. Abe was removed from the ship, the Flying Buttress, but his name quickly became used as a synonym for those who attempt to hide in ships.

Anyway, the ship owners bought guard dogs to keep stowaways from sneaking aboard.  The sounds of barking dogs along the waterfront became associated with that entire area, so barking became embarking, and thusly became the embarcadero.

I don't have a photo of the Embarcadero along Pier 33, but I have a photo of this dog, so maybe you can imagine it barking viciously at Abe Stowe.

We boarded the ferry for Alcatraz, here's a shot from the top deck. In the distance, there's Coit Tower on top of Telegraph Hill. Last year, it was raining, so everybody huddled inside. It was cold today, though, a few people had their hoods on.

 

A minute after launching, our ferry had turned around and were heading straight toward Alcatraz.

We had an enjoyable ride to Alcatraz. You can see the San Francisco side of the Bay Bridge on the right, and just to the left is Treasure Island. The seagull in the center followed us about halfway to the island. Can't imagine why, nobody tossed bread or fish out to the bird, it's unlikely they are fed much at all. So, why does a bird play the long odds here?

You can't see much in the background, but those are the Oakland hills in the distance. The little town of Emeryville is located by the water left of the seagull. If you've ever seen a movie by Pixar, their studio is over there.

We approached Alcatraz within fifteen minutes, but there was congestion at the dock and we had to circle the island for a couple of hours. The captain of the ferry helped us forget the time by reading excerpts from his favorite bedtime book, Funny Maritime Disasters. Oh, in the distance to the north, you can see Mount Tamalpais, and to the left of it Sausalito.

There is a disadvantage to sitting on the top deck. We had just docked at the island when this bird dropped in for a bite. The teenager in the row ahead of me had no warning when the seagull headed right for him. You can see his head in the bottom of the frame. That bird descent was like a scene from Batman Begins. The bird hit the deck and seized something that looked like bread. The boy hurried to the other side of the deck, and then the seagull flew off.

We left our ferry for the mainland, what little there is of it. You can see the lighthouse up near the main prison block. In future postings, or maybe one, I will take you through the visit itself, and the return to Pier 33.

Movie Movie

I was driving around today and happened to pass two movie theaters. They're more interesting than other theaters in the Bay Area, but for dramatically different reasons.

The Grand Lake Theater is a genuinely grand theater across from Lake Merritt in Oakland. It was built back in the 1920s, but I won't go into the history. There's a useful article at Wikipedia, and the Grand Lake has its own website. You just don't see theaters like this anymore, a shame. The theater has a Mighty Wurlitzer organ, and they give music performances with it on the weekends. I went to see a Woody Allen movie there, and Episode II of Star Wars.

As a general rule, movie theaters stay away from issues and causes, but the Grand Lake is different. The owner of the theater has been using part of the marquee for several years now to shame the White House, attack the Bush-Cheney policies, and call upon Congress to stop the war in Iraq. The Grand Lake Theater has been a venue for many anti-war and 9-11 Truth events. Sean Penn, for example, gave a talk there.  There's even a page at Flickr dedicated to their marquee photos. When these political messages appeared on the marquee, they seemed harsh. As time has passed, it's sad to report they were simply ahead of their time.

And now for something completely different. The Central Cinema is as small as the Grand Lake is palatial. It was started a few years ago in Alameda, and is currently the only movie theater in town. Its capacity is 42 or maybe 49. There are sofas that allow the moviegoers to really sit back and enjoy the film. The owner is able to get first-run movies, he's now running Nim's Island.

There's a cineplex being constructed in downtown Alameda at the site of the old Alameda Theater, but this little theater might just make it regardless of the 8 screening rooms at the cineplex. It may be like a micro-brewery which doesn't have to compete with Coors or Miller, and not even Sam Adams and Pyramid. All they have to do is satisfy their narrow group of customers. In the case of Central Cinema, their customer base is the neighborhood a few blocks in any direction.

There was a recent article at SF Gate about Central Cinema, which also has its own website.