A Beautiful Weekend In San Francisco

The City and County of San Francisco (2004 estimated population 744,230) is the fourth-largest city in the U.S. state of California and the fourteenth largest in the United States. San Francisco has many unique characteristics when compared to other major cities in the U.S., including its steep rolling hills, an eclectic mix of architecture including both Victorian style houses and modern skyscrapers, and natural beauty, surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay.



Alcatraz was a military installation established in 1850 and later became a military prison until 1933. The United States Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz were acquired by the United States Department of Justice on October 12, 1933. The island became a federal prison on August, 1934. During the 29 years it was in use, the jail held such notable criminals as Al Capone; Robert Franklin Stroud, the Birdman of Alcatraz; and Alvin Karpis, who served more time at Alcatraz than any other inmate.

The penitentiary was closed for good on March 21, 1963. The prison closed because it was far more expensive to operate than other prisons, and the bay was being polluted by the sewage from the approximately 250 inmates and 60 Bureau of Prison families on the island. It was easier to build a new, traditional land-bound prison than to pay for all the upkeep and support the Alcatraz prison required.




In 1969, a group of American Indians from many different tribes, calling themselves Indians of All Tribes (many were relocated to the Bay Area under the federal Termination program), occupied the island, and proposed an education center, ecology center, and cultural center. During the occupation, several buildings got damaged or destroyed, including the recreation hall, Coast Guard quarters, and the Warden's home. A number of other buildings (mostly apartments) were destroyed by the U.S. Government after the occupation had ended. After 18 months of occupation, the government forced them off. But the end of Termination and the new policy of self-determination were established in 1970 as a direct result of the occupation. Today American Indian groups, for example the International Indian Treaty Council, hold ceremonies on the island. Most notable is Columbus Day and Thanksgiving Day when they hold a "Sunrise Gathering".

Can you imagine being caged in here?

One of the peep holes in Alcatraz so the inmates would know exactly what they were missing.

San Francisco must be the world's most liberal and politically-conscious city. There were protests around town on Saturday, which remarkably got coverage in the local media.



The Golden Gate Bridge, completed after more than four years of construction at a cost of $35 million, opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937 at twelve o'clock noon, ahead of schedule and under budget, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House announcing the event.

The architecture in San Francisco gives the city a charm of its own.

Lombard Street in San Francisco, California is an east-west street that runs from The Presidio, through the Cow Hollow neighborhood (through which Lombard Street - at that point a principal arterial road - is at its busiest and widest and is co-signed as U.S. Route 101 for the 12 blocks between Broderick Street and Van Ness Avenue), and through the Russian Hill and Telegraph Hill neighborhoods, before terminating at The Embarcadero as a collector road.

Lombard Street is best known for one block on Russian Hill between Hyde and Leavenworth Streets, in which the roadway has eight sharp turns (or switchbacks) that have earned the street the distinction of being "the crookedest [most winding] street in the United States." (Vermont St. between 20th St and 22nd St near the San Francisco General Hospital disputes that claim) The Powell-Hyde cable car line stops at the top of this block.

The switchback design, first suggested by property owner Carl Henry and instituted in 1922, was born out of necessity in order to reduce the hill's natural 27° slope which was too steep for most vehicles to climb and a serious hazard to pedestrians used to a more reasonable sixteen-degree incline.