San Francisco › Places and landmarks
Alcatraz
The rocky island in the bay, a federal prison from 1934 to 1963, built so that no one could swim away.
Photo: Frank Schulenburg, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Alcatraz lies in the bay about two kilometres north of the waterfront. The Spanish called it the island of the pelicans in 1775, and in 1854 the first lighthouse on the west coast of the United States was lit on it. The army built a fort and a military prison there.
From 1934 to 1963 it was a federal prison for the men other prisons could not hold, among them Al Capone. The cold water and strong currents round it were meant to make escape impossible. In June 1962 Frank Morris and the brothers John and Clarence Anglin slipped out of their cells, leaving heads of papier-mâché in their beds, and paddled off on a raft of raincoats. They were never found.
From 1969 to 1971 Native Americans occupied the island, to claim it as Indian land. Today it is part of a national park, and ferries take visitors there from Pier 33 on the Embarcadero. Ride through San Francisco in 3D ›
More in San Francisco
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Ferry BuildingThe ferry terminal at the foot of Market Street, with its clock tower after the Giralda of Seville, now a food hall.
Coit TowerThe slim concrete tower on top of Telegraph Hill, built in 1933 with the money of Lillie Hitchcock Coit.
Dragon GateThe gate into Chinatown on Grant Avenue at Bush Street, with green tiled roofs, dragons and two stone lions.
ChinatownThe oldest Chinatown in North America, along Grant Avenue and Stockton Street, with lanterns over the street.
Union SquareThe square of the big shops and hotels, named after the rallies for the Union before the Civil War.
Cable carsThe last cable cars in the world still running in city streets, pulled up the hills by a cable under the road.
Washington SquareThe green heart of North Beach, the Italian quarter, before the white church of Saints Peter and Paul.
City LightsThe bookshop of the Beat poets on Columbus Avenue, which published Allen Ginsberg’s Howl in 1956.
Golden Gate BridgeThe orange suspension bridge across the mouth of the bay, about five kilometres west of the game’s map.
Lombard StreetThe block of Lombard Street on Russian Hill with eight hairpin bends between flower beds, west of the game’s map.
Sourdough breadThe sour, chewy bread of San Francisco, baked since the Gold Rush from a living dough.