Admittedly, it's not likely to happen, but this would just be weird.
I remember that on my first trip to SF, I took the tape-guided tour of the facility and found it to be intriguing. I think it'd be a shame to see a place with that kind of history be removed.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
I don't think it would be able to happen. It's part of the National Park Service, isn't it?
Posted by BandoCommando (Member # 7746) on :
Yea, the article quotes somebody who made it clear that changing the prison to something else would require an act of congress.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
I remember riding the ferry from San Francisco to Sausalito, just before dusk through medium fog.
The ferry must pass no more than 200-300 yards from the island, and I must say at the time it was one of the creepiest, foreboding things I've ever seen in my life. Scared everyone on board.
Posted by brojack17 (Member # 9189) on :
quote:The prison was closed in 1963. Today, with 1.4 million visitors a year, it is second only to San Francisco's cable cars as the city's most popular paid visitor attraction, Weideman says. "It's just such an iconic symbol in America," Weideman says. "People don't realize what a place in our society that Alcatraz " holds.
That sounds like a great idea. Let's get rid of the second most visited attraction in the city and put in a hippy farm.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
It is an unbelievably creepy place. I think it is a good reminder of what human beings, and Americans in particular, can become of we don't honor hope and love and all that. I went there in 1991 when I was newly married. Strangely, the part that freaked me out the most was the fake heads used in one escape attempt. I used to dislike my memories of it quite a bit.
I'm not really sure what I thought of the film "Murder in the First". It made it sound like closing Alcatraz magically solved certain problems, but I'm skeptical of that. It was a very personally involving movie.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I went several times as a child. I loved hearing about the escape (we usually did the self-guided tours.)
I thought it was cool when the Mythbusters re-enacted the escape and found that the searchers may have looked in the wrong place-- and the escapees may not have been eaten by sharks.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by BandoCommando: Yea, the article quotes somebody who made it clear that changing the prison to something else would require an act of congress.
Even if we San Franciscans voted to try and buy it, which we won't, the government would have to sell it, which they wont. And even if we got it, we wouldn't tear down the prison anyway. Every schoolchild on the peninsula has spent a day there.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
Neat idea.
But not for Alcatraz.
Non-starter, like a lot of other neat sounding but fruitless in the end ideas, it won't happen. I like the idea of a dedicated peace center. But find a different place for it.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
"we wouldn't tear down the prison anyway. Every schoolchild on the peninsula has spent a day there."
Why not? They all escaped.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Every schoolchild on the peninsula has spent a day there.
Sorry... what? What exactly do you mean by that?
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Field trips?
Posted by Dan_Frank (Member # 8488) on :
It's not just kids on the peninsula. Almost every school in the Bay Area sends kids on a field trip to the Rock, at some point or another. It's a really interesting place, full of history. I definitely want to go back home and see it again, now that I'm all grown up.
This whole proposal disgusts me. I'm glad the likelihood of it coming to fruition is nil.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
There's a potential difference between a field trip walk-thru of Alcatraz and "spending a day" there. Just wanted to be sure it's what I thought.
Posted by aspectre (Member # 2222) on :
True, minimum time in prison is s'poseta be a year. Talk about lax security.
Posted by The Pixiest (Member # 1863) on :
Hey, let's knock over Coit Tower while we're at it! And who needs that big, ugly red bridge? It causes ships to crash and leak oil into the bay (estuary). Let's put in a chunnel instead!
I'm so happy that, even in a place as batship crazy as San Francisco, a proposal to get rid of a world renowned historical location failed.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
It feels like a day, I'm not sure how long it actually takes.
Posted by The Reader (Member # 3636) on :
quote:Originally posted by Nighthawk:
quote:Every schoolchild on the peninsula has spent a day there.