Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Little Known Facts About the Rock
u
Although Burt Lancaster's film performance made the Birdman of
Alcatraz famous as a gentle, nurturing soul, in reality, the guy was a
psychotic maniac. What's more, he never had any birds at Alcatraz.
Because prisoners here were refused special treatment, he was forced
to give them up when he was transferred here.
u
Al Capone was here, too, but not because he was bloodthirsty and
unmanageable (although he did stab a fellow prisoner with some
shears). Rather, the feds chose this prison because he was a celebrity
crook whom they thought could be better protected here. He spent
4
1
⁄
2
years on the Rock.
u
The prison was closed for good in 1963. In 1969, a group of local
Native American idealists peacefully seized the island, claiming an
obscure law ceding unused federal land to its original Indian owners.
It worked for a while: Some 100 people spent 19 months living in its
cells—look for the old signs welcoming you to “Indian property.” The
island is full of other little mementos of this Utopian community as
well, mostly in the form of graffiti, but also in the form of the
charred remains of a fire that couldn't be fought because the govern-
ment had cut the water supply. By the time the squatters started
stripping the copper wiring from the buildings, public sentiment
turned against them. Finally, the government won by pointing out
that the lighthouse was in operation for the government and, there-
fore, the island belonged to Uncle Sam.
u
On Sundays and Mondays, the gift shop (the one found at the tour's
conclusion, and not the one by the dock) usually hosts Jolene
Babyak, a woman who grew up on the Rock as a child of a warden,
and who today is one of the world's foremost experts on everything
to do with the island. She'll tell you stories about what it was like to
be a kid on the island and take a ferry to school every day; surpris-
ingly, she says it felt very normal, and she never saw any prisoners.
u
Why haven't they turned some of the empty buildings into a histori-
cal resort? Mostly because the island is still operating on its antique
sewer line, which is barely strong enough to support the guest rest-
rooms and gift shop as it is. Any future restorations or development
will probably require a new line, which has kept anyone from seri-
ously trying. That didn't stop a group of activists from attempting to
convince the government to convert the island from a museum into
a “Peace Center,” an idea that was soundly defeated in a 2008 refer-
endum. Locals love their Rock as it is: harsh and creepy.
