Welcome to The Rock

January 23, 2008 12:12 PM

"'If Ranger Craig leads me to a freshly-dug open grave, I'm going to be very miffed,' I thought." Andy Ihnatko goes on a behind-the-scenes tour of Alcatraz.

Some of the photos relate to the original military post and the 1960s and '70s Indian Occupations.

Diagrams of the island and the cellhouse for reference.

posted by kirkaracha (11 comments total)

Oh, Zeuce's butthole...
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 12:18 PM on January 23, 2008

Now I can never go to Alcatraz without wrangling the backstage tour.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:07 PM on January 23, 2008

(semi-self link, as I am working on a sorely-needed new website for him) a friend owns the old Warden Johnston, the launch used to ferry passengers to and from the island. It was used in the "Escape from Alcatraz" film, and took many of the resident's kids to school in San Francisco.
posted by wzcx at 1:11 PM on January 23, 2008

Second link is linking to this thread instead of groovy fort photos.
posted by Atreides at 1:56 PM on January 23, 2008

I'm jealous...the photos are a great look/read. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed even the self-guided-non-special-person-status tour I went on last time I was in SF.
posted by JibberJabber at 2:16 PM on January 23, 2008

On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed even the self-guided-non-special-person-status tour I went on last time I was in SF.

Same here. It's a beautiful island, and there's also a decent film that does touch on much of what the guided tour brings (but not everything).

I'm not a fan of the pictures at all, but the commentary is interesting at times.
posted by justgary at 2:51 PM on January 23, 2008

huh? It's telling me I don't have permission to view the page.
posted by kalimac at 2:53 PM on January 23, 2008

"Now this is something the other tour guides won't tell you.. In this particular cell block, Machine Gun Kelly had what we call in the prison system, a "bitch". And one night, in a jealous rage, Kelly took a makeshift knife, or "shiv", and cut out the bitch's eyes."

- Ranger Vicky
posted by dubold at 3:19 PM on January 23, 2008

dubold, I meant to include that scene, but forgot.

Second link is linking to this thread instead of groovy fort photos.
Oops. Here ya go.
posted by kirkaracha at 3:47 PM on January 23, 2008

Andy's commentaries on his daily life are almost always entertaining. And he's a pretty nice guy to boot.
posted by pupdog at 5:03 PM on January 23, 2008

No entirely related, but if some people have their way, a Global Peace Center will take the place of the prison. While I'm all for getting rid of a symbol of our prison culture and creating a Department of Peace, the airy-fairy proposal just makes me want to laugh.
posted by a_green_man at 5:57 PM on January 23, 2008