Review:

Before becoming home of the infamous penitentiary, Alcatraz Island was the site of the country’s first lighthouse, offering the most magnificent views of the San Francisco skyline, as well as the first American-built fort on the entire West Coast. It also serves as the home of a large bird colony, and features gardens and tide pools.

Today, the main reason why thousands of visitors take a scenic ferry ride across to the Alcatraz island is the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, a maximum high-security federal prison that operated from 1934 to 1963. Off-limits to the public for many years, the abandoned prison fires the imagination, which is mostly fueled by numerous movies and stories of notorious criminals who spent their years on the Rock. The prison was home to 1,576 of America's most dangerous criminals, Al Capone being one of them.

Pier 33 B201 Fort Mason, San Francisco, California 94122, Phone: 415-981-7625

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