Episode 26 - Alcatraz Lighthouse

0:00 Hi everyone, we are just popping in to say thank you to everyone that entered into our coffee giveaway and Congratulations to Emily not me For winning that giveaway and What else was I gonna say I had other things An announcement come on. There's oh, oh, I was gonna say also Thank you to we've had a couple listeners send us some stuff we got some just some fun goodies from NOS at light like pins and stickers and postcards and We also had another listener make us a couple of lighthouses and a buoy With the 3d printer and so they're like little desk ornaments Very cool. Vince is working on a another guest that we might have on the pod These days. Yeah couple of them coming up. So we're just really thankful. Thank you to everybody who is interacting with us I'm liking our posts and listening to our podcast. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Enjoy this episode covering the rock Why are we getting started here I think this audio is alright, I'm gonna start opening this bottle of wine All right, that work for you. Yeah, so today you gotta do the intro I don't know what the intro is how let me let me hold on see if I can think of it Hi everybody, I'm Vince and I'm Emily and this is the lighthouse lowdown

1:37 Is it you're listening to huh you're listening to what is that? What is that? What did I do wrong? No, no, it was good. I was just there's very few parts to the intro Hi everyone, you introduced yourself I introduced myself and then it's the lighthouse load. Well, everyone knows that we're authentic because Every time it's time to do the intro. I'm like, what is it? I don't know. So I just came I just came through with the I like my high. I said hi. I'm Paul on one of the past because I was jacked on caffeine and You all got to be a part of that. Here's a sweet sweet sound for you. Oh Yeah, could you hear that huh you can hear that Now it's not so sweet I'm just ready for the oh, yeah. You don't want to do that because that actually bruises the wine It does Watch me do you think we're gonna care that much about this one? Yeah, this is local Watch us talk trash on this local winery. Well, that's in Herman, Missouri I don't know where that's at. I don't either I feel like I've heard of Herman maybe as like a nice town to go to for Bnbs and like a festival. Oh, it's not Is that Weston if they have a wider Herman? Yeah, it's like As fancy as you can get Missouri. Maybe it's down by Lake of the Ozarks I don't think you'll see on the bottle, but I'll look Yeah, you don't want to you don't want to pop the cork Like that yes, you do. That's how you live smell that cork

3:12 So this is endless summer winery this is an elderberry wine Elderberry that elder elder Are we recording by the way, yeah, that's great and It's got a nice sunflower logo, which I'm sure you've seen before That's great and it's got a nice sunflower logo, which I enjoy and The year is 2015 produced in bottle by Hoover Ventner's LLC of Herman, Missouri. So I say all this like it's sponsored, but it's not got this through work. Yeah However, if anyone wants to sponsor us for wine, that'd be welcome as well Usually we do coffee as you've been a part of everyone who knows But today we're doing wine because it's after work. Yeah after work. I'm usually too tired, but I'm gonna rally For our I've noticed when I set my cups down during the podcast our hard desk Transmit some of the sound. Yeah, so I've selected a couple of soft bottom Yetis here, you know, I have some as wine glasses like floppy foam Coasters and I could just cut a circle and We could put our drinks down on those. Yeah, this is probably a sin For wine drinkers, you want this putting in a tumbler putting wine in a tumbler I just want a very small amount from what I smelled. It's not Well, we chilled it a little bit Oh On the nose it's a little

4:43 Pungent I'm kidding Some fields of elderberry it is good It is good. I'm surprised. Sorry In the summer, it's pretty good. It's a very sweet But not sugary sweet. It's literally very sweet like It tastes like hanging out on a nice patio overlooking a field Tastes like low alcohol content some dirt But smells like high alcohol content it is 12% It is 12% alcohol nice. So sorry for the big sidetrack, but that's welcome to the day Welcome to the show. Is that your history buoy? I have history boo First off look at this PowerPoint I've presented for you all the history boo for today be Actually remind me of Pink Panther the movie I Would like to buy And back. Yeah history buoy. Oh First off shout out to this image. This is so clear. Yeah, this is near the The Seward Seward Alaska where I will be soon, but I found this Buoy I forget what it's called the Cove. It's in I kind of got Alaska vibes from its overcast skies Half of the image is green trees and hills and the other half is snow-capped mountains gorgeous spectacular

6:14 So I've forgotten I've officially forgotten where this is at. Oh But it's near last near Seward. It's not far and the reason it's on there is Tied to our history buoy today. Okay, history buoy is about the San Francisco 49ers Why have you ever heard of them? Yes, okay I'm not sure we don't watch a lot of football So San Francisco 49ers is the pro NFL team of San Francisco the team's name came from the California Gold Rush gold seekers came to San Francisco during 1849 so 49ers comes from 1849 gold rush people which I in the research of this podcast like this episode I Think I did six or eight hours of reading on tangents and one of the tangents was the gold rush So I want to show you something. I'm gonna get better at controlling this I touched on it very lightly in our East Brother Island episode All right. I've already goofed up. So I have heard of the Oregon Trail, which is the North Orange route there for those who are viewing there's gonna be a lot of photos. I have 31 slides 31 photos So this is more of a YouTube post than a podcast. Sorry, I'm biased But we will challenge ourselves and we'll describe all of these Yeah, so folks have heard of the game Oregon Trail, which of course is named after the Oregon Trail You have died of dysentery. Mm-hmm. Always good news and So the Oregon Trail is shown starting in Independence, Missouri shout out that's not far from where we are right now

7:48 Wow this moment in the riprap studio through Fort Carney, Nebraska Fort Laramie, Wyoming Over the past South Springs and then I don't know that area of the country the Snake River Which is in beautiful Idaho up to Portland, Oregon therefore named Oregon Trail. That's where it ends. Okay, that was a popular Trail for people who are traversing to go to the Gold Rush, which is course 1840s late 1840s that actually was only a couple years which I did not know so we're gonna talk some more about that But the purple trail is the California trail as in Oregon Trail California trail I didn't know it ever existed and it ends in Sacramento, which is near that opening there that opening there is San Francisco area So the termination is in California So San Francisco is in that Bay as we talked about and then this shows some of the Gold Rush Mining sites and this is the mother load is the orange the orange here, so I You know, it's a history buoy. I found it really interesting a Cry of gold rang out in Sutter's Mill in 1848 soon after the newspaper spilled onto the streets of the East Coast Thousands of fortune hunters set out to round Cape Horn or traverse the plains on their way to San Francisco In the gold fields beyond I also didn't know that Rounding the Cape the Horn of Africa was I don't know if it was as popular But it was very popular for Eastern

9:20 United States folks to go west like what do you mean like crossing the US on the Oregon Trail? Mm-hmm wasn't what everyone did people also took ships on the ocean around Africa to get to the west coast This is before the Panama Canal opened up. Yeah. Well, that's the whole point of the Panama Canal, right? But that's crazy. I didn't know that I always just thought everyone was in wagons. I didn't know there's any ocean going Gold seekers. Yeah, apparently there was a lot of them Which leads to a line house What? So the discovery at Sutter's Mill set off the gold rush 1848 through 1855 a major event in the history of the United States after several vessels with adventurers Traveling by sea experienced difficulty in the waters along the west coast Another cry was heard this time for the construction of lighthouses to aid navigation in response The United States Congress passed acts in 1850 and 1851 that provided funds for eight lighthouses to be built along the west coast Nice. These are to be the first West Coast lighthouses seeded by Mexico 1848. I'm sure there's a lot of controversy around some of these things Mexican-American War but 1848 was when it became available basically for North American United States what would become United States citizens use and so almost immediately the area became to boom Wait, I'm sorry. Are we starting the episode or is this history?

10:45 They tie into one another. Okay There's no you really threw me off with the 49ers I thought you were gonna do a history movie over sports and I was like, oh the name of the 49ers It's about okay. It's about the gold rush and the gold rush relates to the lighthouse They recovered right because the gold rush was the need the gold rush and all the accidents that happened on the water. I've caught up So this area became available And then immediately gold rush I also thought that was interesting. It wasn't in the middle of a normal available time. There was nothing out there and so Sacramento area Sutter's mill and then San Francisco as a port became into existence So that's where the big money came from. Okay now. Oh, yeah The Rock Sorry for that impression We watched this movie 1996 the Rock Two nights ago. Yeah, Vince didn't tell me anything about what was about what it called what it was related to He just said we were watching a movie so that we could Talk about it in our episode. Yeah so This is a movie I chose because I thought it was entertaining a long time ago It has Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage and apparently Ed Harris And what year did we say it was is 1996 96? Yeah And so I thought it was interesting 96 96. Yeah, and so I bring this up One because we got to see the film and we can talk about it. So they actually did film on Alcatraz Wow

12:16 Not all of the scenes. They also did film in San Francisco So a lot of those like chase scenes at the beginning of the film were actually San Francisco, which which is what? The city's yeah in the city, right? So accurate to the set Oh, okay, which is cool because that's not easy to do. I'm sure so the the lenses they showed and everything that was the actual lenses No, oh So there's no in the film. There's the lighthouse we see at the bottom Yeah, which we'll come to know more about as Alcatraz Island lighthouse for those of you I haven't read the caption or the title of this episode The reason I know that is because I watched the movie Mm-hmm caught on to what he was putting down and then in the movie there are several scenes that capture the lower lighthouse Do you recall that? Yes doesn't exist They built they built the lower lighthouse for the film. Perfect. Well, and they destroyed it they literally shot it up and I Don't want to ruin the film if you haven't seen it The lower lighthouse doesn't exist The original lighthouse was lower than this one and we'll talk about why it's no longer there But it was demolished intentionally to build this taller lighthouse. Okay, so it's kind of like a fun fact for the movie There was a lower lighthouse, but they didn't exist at the same time and Sean Connery didn't escape from that prison Noted but it's a good movie and the Rock has been in many films So shortly after Alcatraz opened as a federal prison, I will talk about all the history

13:49 But in 1934 was when it became kind of available for for these type of things For the prison for for filming. Oh, I see there's a long history, but 34 is when became available for filming its career For movies began so Alcatraz Island 1937 Birdman of Alcatraz 1962 What's another one point blank which I haven't seen but I guess it's action 1967 I've heard that name before so it's probably a good movie The Enforcer 1974 Escape from Alcatraz 1979 the Rock 1996 and X-Men the Last Stand 2006 So it's been in a lot of movies. Yeah Just has the lighthouse made an appearance in all those movies or is it just the location the lighthouse?

14:37 Yeah, the Rock the island and the lighthouse and all of those were I believe from my research Filmed at least partially on the island itself. Okay, so whether it's part of the prison that we saw in our film or the lighthouse or some other cool things that are there Coming to hear about them. So For those of you who are gonna go check out the Rock film 1996 It's about a mild managed mannered chemist and an ex-con must lead the counter-strike when a group of rogue military men led by renegade general Threatened a nerve gas attack from Alcatraz against San Francisco Yeah, and you get to see how the gas affects people in the very beginning You know, we should probably it's a little triggering. This is one more thing. I want to show the end of the movie I'm not gonna tell you why but the end of the movie is supposedly set in Kansas Bologna, this is not Kansas. What is it? Oh, there's mountains. This is absolutely Southern, California because I Couldn't I could why would he choose Kansas if it just bothers me because no one's ever been to Kansas Kansas is in the middle of nowhere. There's nothing there. Yeah, we'll choose we could use anywhere, but we'll say Kansas literally Anywhere in the world. We're here. Anyways, we're here. So we're in Kansas. It doesn't look like this Mostly and then in this scene here. It turns the camera around for the next scene that shows him driving Yeah, and it's through I commented when we're watching it. It's through a lemon Lemon tree orchard. Yeah, and I'm like, yeah, that's California and then it shows more of these mountains and hills in the background

16:12 I found it interesting They went all the way to Alcatraz and they're like, where can we find a field in a church nearby for a closing scene? Yeah, so I just don't say it's from Kansas. Yeah, could have just said California anyways that bothered me So now Google Maps Google Maps. So Google Maps. I'm now steering on screen We're gonna go to the West Coast. We're gonna go down to San Francisco Francisco we're gonna zoom in because I wanted to show you we have already been in this area. Yes, we have right up here No up a little further Pointy is yeah East Brother light station down down down the other pointy. Oh, I'm sorry near point San Pablo East Brother light station making an appearance. We've already covered him And we'll talk some history about the area. Here's Treasure Island, which was mentioned in the film. Oh, yeah here is Alcatraz Oh I did see that when I was researching but like the lighthouse is so skinny that in their little cartoon depiction it kind of made me think of like like a needle like a You know lightning rod kind of thing or a smokestack Maybe think small lighthouse notorious prison. We should go there We should go to Alcatraz. Yeah, we're gonna talk about going to Alcatraz. So the lighthouse is Get back to my notes Let me say it this way a firm in Baltimore, Maryland named Gibbons and Kelly was awarded the contract to build lighthouses on the West Coast

17:45 The contract sorry The eight of them. Okay, it included Alcatraz Island Fort Point Fort Pino's I think Point Conception point Loma Southeast Farallon Island and Humboldt Bay and one at Cape Disappointment in present-day, Washington Cape Disappointment is the only one I've heard of have we covered Cape Disappointment? Mm-hmm. Okay, I think I will in the future. It has an interesting story. I'm gonna take it from me. Well, we'll talk about it Supplies for the construction of the lighthouses were shipped around Cape Horn Well, what did you expect them to do they were shipped on the bark oriel which is a ship neat I like that name which arrived at Port San Francisco January 29th 1853 Wow advanced party advanced party had already started work on the foundation of the Alcatraz Island lighthouse Which would be the first lighthouse activated on the West Coast What that neat this is the first lighthouse on the West Coast. Yep. Oh Wow It's got so much history so much happening and I this place is happening I was really confident when I said that maybe it was the first of these eight But I think it was the first on the West Coast. Well, you said earlier that it was the first eight Lighthouses on the West Coast and then if this is the first of the eight it's gotta be 1853 is a long time ago. Mm-hmm. I'm saying I'm saying I'm picking up what you're putting down This is the original Alcatraz The plans for the for most of these eight lighthouses called for a one and a half story cottage with a tower protruding from the center

19:21 Of the pitched roof all steps in the tower thus provided access to the upper story of the dwelling as well as the lantern room Kind of cool very nice. Is this the original that you have up? It is the original Alcatraz this is the lower lighthouse if you will, okay So so just to clarify the prison was not originally part of the plan, right? Okay It was just a lighthouse was the original construction on that island because this looks like the original lighthouse is small enough That looks like it may have been swamped by the prison building precisely. Okay on the eventual case Okay So I like this shape of the lighthouse. I really like this and I think it was mentioned I don't know if I have it in my notes here, but when I was reading about this It was hard to find this image. Shout out to United States lighthouse society. Mm-hmm They've got all of the documents you need But I mean this is a this is a sketch a hand sketch from 1854 Which has all the views and I also like it shows this like interior. Yeah staircase These are like concrete plans. I think or brick plans. I guess it would have been like foundation stuff. Yep They wanted to bring some East Coast style like Cape Cod Architecture to the West Coast because it was the first lighthouse or at least among the first as we've established So they they had an interest in doing that. It's also a Boston, Massachusetts firm that won the contract through probably recycling some engineering Although this looks much It looks more unique than the early lighthouses. That's like it looks I mean it has its own style going on

20:56 Yeah, it's not a cheap box. It's interesting. So The house is very in style around that time. Yeah still today. It'd be pretty sweet if you had a lighthouse protruding from your house Or a lantern room rather than a dream. So be like a reading nook. It was completed by July of 1853 Okay, but it would be almost a year before it exhibit its light. Why so 1854? This might be an as-built drawings as it was completed. They get this I see It would be almost a year We'll talk about that, okay, I think I'm pretty sure sorry I have nine pages of notes So I'm gonna scoot in 1852 the year before the completion the administration of the US Lighthouses was transferred from the fifth auditor of the Treasury to a newly created lighthouse board Which after many changes through history is expressed today as the US LHS Nice, so I have an image of the board and that time Whamp whamp so I'm not gonna read these names, but 1896 is this image so I Guess 40 years after I was referencing Sorry, but still a very old photo and kind of neat they were getting together to have these meetings one of the first changes that this body made was to order the installation of Fresnel lenses in all lighthouses. Oh, we're switching up just so everyone knows we're we're pronouncing Fresnel Fresnel lenses one of three ways that I've heard online and it's most likely

22:31 Not correct. I'm going with Fresnel. So yeah for today. I am NOT ready to try and conform Vince seems to be ready to conform I'm gonna try I'll embarrass myself a little bit longer We're recording a podcast. We're full swing embarrassing ourselves All right, the thought before this time was that the Fresnel lens developed by Augustine Fresnel in France of 18 1822 was too expensive for deployment in American linehouses the new lighthouse board concluded However that the superior performance of the Fresnel lens and the reduction in fuel oil that promised More than justified its added expense a change order was accordingly sent to Gibbons and Kelly the contractors Directing them to not install the intended argand lamps again. Yeah, remember I yeah, we'll talk about it We'll show an example here in a second argand lamps and parabolic reflectors But rather wait for the Fresnel lens to arrive. So that was why there was a year in between its conclusion Okay, so they had these lenses on hand it sounds like but they said well One of the first actions we're gonna take is to upgrade the lens without ever installing this so there is I watched a video on YouTube of a guy take a tour of the modern lighthouse And in the base of it at the base of the tower There was a lens sitting there that the tour guide in the video and the folks who were recording it didn't know history I wonder if it wasn't never deployed, but it was I mean they already bought it. They're gonna send it somewhere else interesting

24:04 So it was a argand Lamp so this shows the reflector Literally a fuel burning lamp, which I think is super cool. Mm-hmm and Now it seems better Now it seems basic but at the time the 1800s getting something like this, right? Yeah, it was really impressive. Yeah, and they added this chimney later that oh, I didn't know that Yeah, so that because I said it was a problem the problem. Yeah, obviously this reflector would just encase all of the smoke from the candle Or the lamp and would just get soot really fast and so that it wouldn't have any reflective power so someone would have to come by and clean all of them and they'd have like 20 something reflectors on one lighthouse So they made this chimney that comes out the top so where it's still something you have to clean but it's not like You know, it's not as bad. Yeah. Well, it seems alarming to have an oil reservoir there and screws that adjust the flow And you're supposed to refill that while the flame is running. I I would guess Yeah, or during the day or something sometime extra work, so light from a fixed third or Ferdor wine's starting to come What?

25:20 12% hitting yeah, I can't handle I can't handle drinking my diet. Dr. Pepper and then going back to the wine It's a mix. Yeah, you don't want to mix them Light from a fixed third or third order Fresnel lens Fresnel lens. Oh my gosh Light from a fixed third order Fresnel lens was first shown from Alcatraz lighthouse on June the 1st of 1854 With Michael Cason receiving an annual salary of $1,100 as the headkeeper and John Sloan being paid $700 as his assistant nice. It's not bad in us dollars today. Yeah, it's not bad us today. It's $40,000 and $25,000. Okay, so Pretty sweet place to be though. Yeah, and that's not at today's like Housing prices, right? Yeah, just inflation would have definitely been a livable wage The uh, sorry, no, it's okay and their housing is covered. So yeah, you know, they're making bank and they're right by the city Which will come up again. It's nice. Um, oh, but it's a island lighthouse. It is an island. They're being compensated for that I see I see it's a good spot The original lens had been used had been in use for under 50 years when in 19 what?

26:33 What? When was the Golden Gate Bridge built? I don't know. Was it while this lighthouse existed? I'm assuming right? You can see it really well from there. So I was thinking it must have been fun for them to watch it be built January 5th of 1933. Okay, so way after Pretty neat good question. What about a fun time for them? The lens the original lens? Was there for almost 50 years which seems like a good service life to me Uh in 1902 it was removed and replaced by revolving two panel fourth order lens. Whoa Yep, it produced a white flash every 15 seconds The district officers recommended the change in the lights characteristic. They changed it so that it could be more. Um, I don't know what the original was now that I say that more more distinguished from the electric lights surrounding it. Okay, that makes sense I read that electric lights San Francisco was Electric lights san francisco was a money pit of a city when it like the gold rush Really, I would say through today. I don't know the city that well, but it's still quite substantial and so Electric lighting in 1902 was a concern for the surrounding area, which is awesome. That's a good problem So and then that's early the island itself. I assume had some lights too being the keeper's house So but running power to an island is also a neat idea and of course, yeah, and that's early for that. Yeah So I want to show you the original lighthouse. Okay, I have a photo of it in 1895. Yes what?

28:06 Oh, wait. Yeah Yeah, that's pretty early for photo. Whoa, that's a great photo for that year I think I mean, come on I keep saying these things and now i'm like, are you sure i'm pretty sure this is from 1895 Because the next photo I have is from 1906 Oh San Francisco All right. Look at that. Isn't it cool beautiful and what is this other house sticking off to the side? I don't know what that is. What the heck is that? Don't tell me that's the boathouse because it is like a gothic. It's awesome It's a dark gothic What is it called? Architecture just like uh when it's the opposite of something else Antithesis. Yeah The the lighthouse is really neat and it looks quaint. It's clean and pretty I don't I have so many questions in my own photo I don't know what these things are these folks folks are sitting on with the I don't know what that is It wouldn't be oil would it? I hope not cannonballs Yeah, and then I really don't know. I don't know what the house is either. They have two chimneys. Do you think that they made it a duplex?

29:12 They did. Yes Yep, we'll talk about that. Okay. Yeah, and they eventually we'll also talk about it added more folks. Is that a tennis court? It might be What world are we in? This is the original lighthouse? That's what I can tell you for sure about this photo because you know nowadays they don't make a tennis Fence that fancy. Can you all the stories that we have told about lighthouse keepers about wikis and all like we watched the lighthouse Which you all probably already heard. No. No. Okay. Well, you'll hear that review Yeah, they did not have a friggin tennis court. No, no And they had room too Do you think that's a tennis court? I don't know. I've got to look it up. It looks like a It looks like a tennis court Like why would they have a net coming through the middle of just wide open space?

30:02 Oh, do you think it's a cistern and the net has something to do with I really don't know What I can't tell you i'm sorry research falls short right now. Let's just let it live a lot live in live on In our brains as a tennis court so In addition to the light go check out this photo on our instagram because you can probably have the same opinions as we do Please just make up something and tell us what you think these things are in the photo. Leave a comment just for fun Yeah So in addition to the light the keepers in alcatraz island were also responsible for a fog bell struck by machinery Which was placed in the southeast tip of the island In 1883 the old bell and other material were sent to the navy yard at mare island, which I don't know where that is but A 3340 pound bell was cast for alcatraz island. Whoa, we're talking a big bell. Yeah big ass bell The new bell was placed in the new structure built for it And when conditions merited it was struck five blows intervals of 10 seconds. Oh, so it's their foghorn Followed by a pause of 25 seconds. So again pretty advanced for the time Yeah, it's mechanically struck which I assume involves a steam engine and well, they have all this money in san francisco and all electricity and the beginning of the Yeah, what is it 20th century 19th?

31:32 No 20th century sure So this it's it's a mountain dew fun fact That I don't know if we cover later or not. So i'll make sure it's covered now This had a mechanical winding to rotate the assembly of the light the lighthouse the light room the lens my goodness They had to dig into the island to create a shaft to have enough vertical travel for the weight to travel down So it's like a pit that went down And in the future lighthouse they um dug off the edge of a cliff or maybe it's a little bit round. Well I hope we'll cover it. Okay. I'm sorry. If not, we'll have to come back. There's a lot to talk about Around the time that the lighthouse was completed military fortifications were also placed on the island. It's a tactical position the alcatraz To the to the bay, okay, the alcatraz citadel, which was a multi-story fortified barracks was finished in 1859 On the uppermost plateau just north of the lighthouse. So they chose the highest spot and they built a new building That was um, what year was that?

32:41 1859 you think these are actual cannonballs? That'd be a lot of ammo There'd be no cannonballs are not that big Well, then what are they I really don't know Torpedoes Okay, sorry keep going The first use of alcatraz as a prison which we talked about in the movie of the rock 1996 was during the civil war Uh, what happened was 39 people in san francisco were found celebrating the news of the assassination of president lincoln evil Oh no Yep, they were promptly arrested and locked up on the island for two months I did not find what happened after them after that 1865 was the year he was assassinated Okay nuts A second assistant keeper was assigned to alcatraz in 1901 Which also is when they got their new lens Yeah, true 1902 so 19 Or a different one the fourth order Okay A second assistant keeper was assigned to alcatraz in 1901 to help with the added burden of a revolving light and a second fog bell That was placed on the northwest tip of the island in 1900 Okay, so now there's one on the southeast and one on the northwest. Yep. Ooh, that's neat. Nice symmetry Eventually, i'll show you a map that covers the island. It's really neat The head keeper was given four rooms in this lighthouse while the assistants had two rooms each and they shared a kitchen Did any of them have families or were you not allowed to since it's a rock?

34:09 They did have families and it really was tight. Oh Wow, because eventually they needed to expand the lighthouse They did eventually. Okay for more room What's your question I don't have any okay, i'm just excited to be here me too You Henry w young was serving as head keeper when the devastating 1906 earthquake struck san francisco We already talked about this in east brother light. Yeah, and east brother light didn't really suffer much damage besides the Fresnel lens Uh taken a crack or two so what it was the damage here. Well first we'll talk about the log book For april 18th, which is coming up reads 5 30 a.m. Violent and continuous earthquake Dot dot dot san francisco on fire. Is this the end of the world question mark insane that they would write very similar like verbiage and Verbiage yeah words words english Terrible seeing san francisco from here The earthquake caused a slight crack in the lighthouse tower And it toppled the chimneys protruding from the dwelling's roof. Oh, no, so it was rocking. Yeah, which is insane I bet those cannonballs were everywhere No, they're heavy So i'm going to show you an image from 1906 earthquake. Oh no everything that I have

35:42 Have found tells me this is a real image and there were several other images that are even worse quality and even more insane buildings Whole sections of the city are gone. Yeah, fires are enormous churches like Anything that was really heavy stone appeared to be still be there what you can see The brick is still there on the right the heavy stone like limestone on the left to be fair Like what I read earlier is that the the earthquake is not what destroyed most of the city It was the fires and this picture kind of shows. Yeah, the sky it's like the earthquake really didn't Decimate anything like obviously there's buildings down and everything but the fire is just like all you see is fire Yeah, I can see how they came to the same uh, describe it the same way from afar Yeah, and that is kind of cool. It's sad but cool. I've never been to san francisco I don't think but this you can see this big hill I think this was in the chase scene like this area this neighborhood It's big to I read it's big for tourism to like go on those street trolleys and see this area Um, and the street trolley was a part of the film we watched as well This makes me think of a princess diaries. Did they film that in san francisco?

36:53 I don't know that story Am I thinking of a john denver song san francisco? Nice princess diaries Hey shout out too bad. They didn't go to alcatraz island. They weren't cool enough to film on alcatraz So I don't want to brush over it. This is an awful event, but it was We've already covered it. Um, it's just crazy. Yeah here shows A map that I think you already showed this exact map. You stole my map. Yep Dora would be mad So, uh, this shows the fault line and some of the ratings so near san francisco very heavy extreme 124 percent gravity acceleration 116 centimeters per second of velocity For you nerds out there. That's nuts. That's a lot of movement. So and of course, there was this whole california coast Really awful, but here's a cool picture. Boom Wow, look at something slightly more positive. This looks a lot different from what we were just looking at So what year is this one? Well, i'm gonna keep going through my notes. Oh um Because I don't know the answer to that yet. Let me let me keep reading for a moment. So, uh in 1909 Yeah, we just talked about the earthquake. Sorry 1909 the citadel was leveled to the ground and a cell house was built in its place Which is still present today. You've seen this cell house in the film. We'll we'll talk about it With its 600 cells the new prison was reportedly the largest reinforced concrete building in the world at the time

38:24 Oh my gosh In fact in 1909 in fact the new structure interfered with the operation of the lighthouse So a taller 90 foot concrete tower was built just south of the original lighthouse using $35,000 okay say something the the first lighthouse and this lighthouse have Extremely different vibes going on. They do this is definitely more of a security type. I mean like security vibe lighthouse Yeah, the other one was very homey and cute. I never thought about that. It looks like it matches the cell house though. Yeah The columns and another thing they're both beautiful. That's just uh, they're very different It's not like they took the lantern room off of that and just made it taller. Yeah It's like they definitely just re uh redesign the whole thing. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's very neat and uh Something that's cool architecturally construction about this Is it was kind of one of the early experiments in building?

39:24 To proof against earthquakes. Oh because it was built 19 years after the major earthquake that ripped the city in half um Another fun fact from our movie watching time that building on the right is the warden's house. Okay Nice. Yeah, and uh, very bougie eventually there's a fire and also very different styles those two houses It looks like a like a texaco style. Yeah, the one closest to us. The second one looks very um Yeah, texaco. That's cute. Yeah, like we're going to chile's and uh in Eventually in in the movie the rock the last scene you see of sean connery He's standing on a weird elevated platform in a window. Yeah walking across that's the building Oh, wow. No way. Yeah in ruins if you will you said there is a fire. Yep. We'll talk about it Oh dang it every time you keep dropping on the rock So that 35 000 we talked about it was approved by congress march 4th of 1909 Thank goodness for politicians Right five thousand dollars approved by congress. Thank you congress cue the applause sound effect. I'm proud Of construction work began july 20th of 1909 good time to be constructing things Uh, so only three years after that earthquake The revolving fourth order lens transferred from the old lighthouse and was activated atop the new tower. Okay lens Uh, that was december 1st of 1909 Got a lot of dates here

40:55 Attached to the base of the tower was a commodious dwelling with two story wings The private smaller wing was for the head keeper the two assistants shared the larger wing Because it was no longer needed the original lighthouse was torn down by 1914 the fourth order Two panel barber and bernard which I assume is the manufacturer Fresnel lens was used in the lantern room That was used there had been replaced by a six panel fourth order lens that produced a white flash every five seconds so they increased the frequency and And uh also increased the panels, which I think maybe is the same result six panels Yeah, if they wanted to keep the speed the same they would increase the amount of panels to increase flash pattern Interesting so one flash every five seconds Anyways, let me take a sip of oh I want a sip of Now we're at 1913 The fog bells on the northern and southern extremes of the island were replaced with electric sirens I can tell you they were not popular over time Interestingly the prison guards used to help the keepers in operating those fog signals Oh cute From their elevated lookouts in the watchtowers the guards They could easily see when a bank of fog started to roll through the golden gate The the lighthouse keepers weren't ever up unless they were maintaining the light they weren't at elevation so they couldn't see as well So the guards would yell at them. Hey fog's rolling in Yeah, well the guards are up there 24 7 the keepers are not up there 24 7 unless it's nighttime Right and then nobody would be able to see if there's fog rolling in. Yeah, it's pretty pretty nuts

42:27 Um alcatraz served as a military prison until it was acquired by the u.s. Justice department in 1933 So then it became a federal penitentiary. So I think because it became a federal penitentiary it became available for filming. That was what we talked about earlier I don't really see that connection. Yeah, I don't either the lighthouse keepers worked alongside the prison And then rather uneventfully until the light was automated november 22nd of 1963 I find that statement to be baloney and i'll tell you why oh one dramatic event that was recorded by the keepers Was a bloody escape attempt Oh No, now as the battle of alcatraz. Oh my gosh this Pretty wild escape. Okay escape from alcatraz Bloody escape attempt like somebody yeah, like multiple people like it was a jailbreak So it was the afternoon of may 2nd of 1946 bernard coy was his name an inmate was able to pry apart some bars and squeeze his greased body Into an elevated walkway like that on the screen for all of you can't see Patrolled the walkway was patrolled by armed guards He overwhelmed an unsuspecting guards neck up on him gained access to firearms and keys and quickly liberated his accomplishment The compasses he had planned this ahead of time. You know, i'm gonna try to reach myself up get out Get a gun. Yeah, literally slid through the bars. Oh It's gotta be he's gotta have like broken rib or something. It didn't go super well So the inmates plan soon met a snag

43:59 However, because they were unable to unlock the door leading to the rec yard recreation. Oh good lord So I want to show you the cell block. We've already seen the rec yard. Wouldn't that be closed off anyway? So the rec yard the plan was to get to the rec yard. Here's our map Oh excellent. So cell block center screen Uh the rec yard is the far side and then down from the rec yard I don't know if they were going to go through a gate or over the wall or what They were actually going to try to get into a boat and the boats were stored down. I do see some little stairs Yeah It's an incredible level of detail. Yeah It's pretty cool. And this is san francisco or alcatraz island today So this big dock at the lower side that's for boats that are coming to visit We'll talk about tours and such that are available Um, you see the warden's house now has no roof parade ground. There's the lighthouse Yeah, I didn't understand parade ground. I think it's for training of the guards Because it appears to be outside of all the containment walls We talked about it in the or we heard about it the movie the atlantic Or excuse me, the pacific is very cold Uh, and uh, this is over a mile from the coast so it looks close, but it's not really swimmable It'd be incredible if you could swim it let alone swim it as a prisoner Yeah, you'd be doing it as a small feat and not uh for fun. Yeah, so it was Difficult to escape I think Which is the cool premise of the movie we watched is someone who had escaped exactly So the rec yard also fun fact, uh, you can go visit that on a tour and there's a baseball diamond that was there

45:32 Um for the prisoners. Yeah, so the prisoners were allowed out to the rec yard for some time Uh baseball was popular. I guess There was a bunch of famous people. I think you don't want to give a bat to a prisoner I don't know, but you have guns so The guards have guns But to get back to the back to the escape attempt so Mr. Coy got the jump on somebody Eventually marines were called to help regain control of cell block D Located just 150 feet from the lighthouse over the next two days gunfire was occasionally heard on the island harry davis Uh was serving as the headkeeper at the time It was likely that he penned the following account in the station's logbook Which you don't usually talk about shootings going on drama. Yeah the the bad drama 1430 hours convict on the loose with submachine gun. Oh my gosh entire prison held at bay Entire prison held at bay shooting is almost continuous u.s Marines landed on north end of island fire again raging in cell blocks hand grenades being dropped through the holes broken through the roof No way the prison is being reduced to shambles the nearly two-day standoff was over when it was over davis wrote The end of 44 hours of living hell How many people died? Uh, the six escapees were killed During the three three of the six escapees were killed Okay, two of the three who did survive were later executed together in a gas chamber yikes san quentin And their role because they killed two guards during the escape. The third survivor was given a judicial life sentence

47:05 I was surprised. That's only six people six had escaped and they caused all sorts of havoc because they got they got hold of Guards guns. Yeah, I don't remember. I wish I did. I don't remember how many guards were killed But more again, I went into some deep holes reading about this event Yeah, this is in some way i'm gonna say it's awesome. It's not awesome. I'm gonna say it's awesome But it's like the movie. So this was uh, i'm trying to remember the year 1946 okay, world war two had just ended World war two had just ended And the guards were not doing well, uh, because the prisoners who couldn't escape the cell block, which is just crazy They had like machine guns and they were holed up and so they called some marines And that's why it took two days a group of marines who had fought in world war two against the japanese They just finished. Yeah, but they they came and used tactics They organized a plan and used tactics that they had used against japanese who were defending themselves in similar war time and uh, it's a it's a story if you want to read about it, it could have been a whole episode, but um pretty I mean to end the situation great. It's good for them. Obviously it wasn't a positive event But I was like they literally landed u.s marines from world war two one year away from world war two's end On this island to fight these prisoners. Yeah, and it's like it's all america. It's not a wars. It's not even a battle it's just like prisoners we need you to intercept these people like they're

48:36 Basically terrorists, so super crazy So I just wonder how they got control of the other three without killing them So they had keys and they talked sorry i've read a lot that I didn't write down The he got keys to the cells from a guard that he overwhelmed I don't know if he killed that guard or not. I hope not, but I assume probably knocked him out I'm gonna say he probably knocked him out, but he got the keys and the keys were I mean 1900s keys. They're kind of interesting looking but they weren't that complex like padlock keys And then uh, he was able to release people that he knew he could trust to break out with him. He was all planned and then um Um got some guns And they couldn't get out into the yard because it required a different key and they didn't think of that. They didn't know that Uh, they didn't know it or they didn't think of it. They didn't yeah, you couldn't find a key to get out So they were kind of locked but they had a run of uh, the cell house Yeah during their escapades. Did you read what they were guilty of that they were in?

49:36 I did. Um, one of them was guilty of murder Uh, so it's pretty serious Others, I don't think were all murderers Nothing noteworthy nothing I could recall murder for one at least it might have been coy the the mastermind of the plan but Not that big of a mastermind, I guess I mean I don't know. I'm sure everyone's a good person at some point in their life But that's a pretty rough situation to be killing people and yeah Have to cause the military to come in storm the beach again to take care of your situation. That's just wild So, uh, that's all I have to say about the battle of alcatraz but pretty wild And the lighthouse keepers were running the light the whole time. Oh my god, they're like, all right tired of this That's enough. You've got to just be in hell. It's like it's escaped people with firearms on this island. You can't get off of Keep doing your duties. Like we got it under control. It's like are you sure they're not gonna come out here? Yeah I'll give them a prior warning. I'd be like i'm gonna get out of the way if they come running out. Yeah I'll have you know My life is on the line for the lighthouse but not for these weirdos. Yeah That's obviously quite an unfortunate series of events Now i'm going to talk about something a little happier just a little sad unhappy Is that not when the warden's house burnt down? Nope. What with grenades and stuff? Alcatraz island, baby so uh this We'll just get i'm just gonna say we're gonna get a little bit of a We'll just get i'm just gonna say we're gonna move on. Okay We can come back if anyone has it

51:07 Oh nice heartwarming photos. This is ed Your boy ed ed the murderer. No, that was coy was the last. Oh, sorry. I thought you said ed coy. No Hold on now. I gotta check bernard coy I was off by a lot bernie now. This is ed ed schneider. Okay ed ed ed was a genial 270 pound man He spent 28 years on alcatraz not as a prisoner but as a lighthouse keeper 28 years. Mm-hmm He said one one point sure I could have transferred to other stations, but not anytime they asked me. I said no Schneider reported he told a reporter. This is one of the choice places not for them. I know he nodded towards the barred windows But for me alcatraz isn't isolated. It's close to town So as a lighthouse keeper he had that in mind which again we've talked about further away Rougher lives for them. Yeah, so Schneider arrived on the rock as first assistant keeper Excuse me first as assistant keeper in 1931 and ended up retiring in 1959 So he was there during the Battle of Alcatraz. Wow He was the last civilian keeper of Alcatraz Island light for many years For many years, he acted as santa claus to some 70 children of the prison guards of the island and he fit the role well in total He fit the santa claus role well not needing a pillow or an extra padding

52:37 Brutal besides the Battle of Alcatraz another standout day for Schneider was when both of the station's foghorns quit in heavy fog What brought shipping to the bay and a stop to a stop. Oh boy. He said I never repaired anything so fast before or since He's like, I'm sweating So he retired um Yeah upon retirement which again was in 1959 Uh, he had divorced in 1942 during his time on the rock He went to live with his sister in oakland It's very sad, but on october 17th of 67 he ended his own life Oh, no He left behind a suicide note that read I can't stand the pain. I'm slowly becoming a burden that's that's a steaming garbage pile I It's sad and he was a really loved man. It sounds like and I wrote this next part He said uh, I said he served in world war one as a marine Uh, and then he served in the u.s coast guard and the lighthouse as a second assistant keeper He was promoted to assistant keeper. He was promoted to principal keeper All of his united states coast guard dedication was at alcatraz island Uh, it has been suggested that his role in life was to serve and to provide In retirement his joy of life waned until his time of death. No, he was missed dearly by his family Yeah, that's so sad. Yeah So I can understand that like your whole life has He's always had a mission purpose. Yeah

54:09 He's always had the light to keep on and people and all those children so It's really sad that he uh ended his life But he obviously was rocking his job This is a slide also from a presentation by the us lhs And a lot of these We're on lighthouse friends.com as well if you want to learn some more about ed. Yeah, so i'm going to show you another image This is another image of the lighthouse Oh cool picture. Yeah, you can see it's got quite an elevation gain um Being at that edge of the island. Those look like water towers. I never noticed those before Kind of cool Following the closing of the penitentiary in 1963 alcatraz was declared a surplus property In november of 1969 a group of about 90 native americans landed on the island and claimed it as indian land Whoa Ha what is happening alcatraz island, babe. It's very strange What yep, so i'm going to tell you the short version and then the long version you're welcome So here's here's the short version Um over the next 19 months a varying number of native americans occupied the island on june 1st 1970 A fire destroyed the warden's house. Oh the keeper's quarters and other buildings on the island It scorched the lighthouse tower itself No further damage was done to the island when the occupants reportedly began stripping copper wiring and tubing from the buildings and selling it as scrap metal a pre-dawn raid on june 11th of 1971 ended the occupation

55:43 That's bizarro. So Feel free to interject of course. I I felt really negatively about that. Yeah, and I was like 1970s we're talking about native americans Occupying this place. Yeah, so being surplus land to me. That means no one was taking care of it There's nothing there and like we've talked about the government sees these type of places as a liability You know, why do we have to take care of this lighthouse? You know east brother light station is even the same they have people volunteering to take care of that and keep it nice Yeah raise money. So I assume that's kind of the same story So they just saw it as open land. I mean that no one else was using But I did some more research because I was hoping that there was more to the story and there was How long did they occupy it?

56:30 Not that long. Um, and I can tell you exactly. Gosh, they did a lot of damage I think you'll I think you'll appreciate this further discussion so European discovery and exploration of san francisco bay area and its islands began in 1542 I'm not going to talk you through that many hundreds of years. Okay, but the mapping didn't happen until 1775 earlier visitors to the area were preceded by Native Americans 10,000 to 20,000 years before of course, these weren't native Americans, but they were indigenous people Sometimes those are put together But it's expected that over 10,000 people indigenous lived in the area before it was settled before it was discovered And of course that was Spanish and Portuguese explorers came to the area first so So early use of Alcatraz Island by the indigenous people is difficult to reconstruct most of its based on oral history But basically it was used as sorry. Go ahead. I was just gonna say but they did they did use it. Yeah Oh, they did and it was mostly used for um ostracization People who were outcasts or who? Oh, no Yeah, they'd broken or violated a tribal law, right? They were a camping spot It was also for gathering foods, especially bird eggs and sea life, which makes sense. I was utilized as a hiding place from the California mission system so not all Spread of new ideas is good, right?

58:00 So once Alcatraz became a prison both military prisoners and civilians were incarcerated Many of these were American Indians Indian people i'm going to reference that in the future Indian, but I mean American Indian And continued to be among the population of prisoners and disciplinary barracks on the island through the remainder of the 1800s in early 1900s Saying they were among the incarcerated. Okay, they were represented among them. So on November 9th of 69 1969 The Indian people came again to Alcatraz their red book. They were red They were led by a man named Richard oaks. So he was kind of the the founder of this occupation He was a mohawk Indian The group of Indian supporters set out on a chartered boat. So they they did it right, you know They they planned it the Monte Cristo was named the boat To symbolically claim the land back for the Indian people on november 20th of 69 The occupation turned into a full-scale occupation which lasted until 71 So I this is a series of occupation events that i've summarized into one. I just make it simple more simple So it was planned by oaks Um, and a group of Indian students a group of urban Indians from the bay area as well Since many tribes were represented they came up with the name the Indians of all tribes, which we talked about as their banner here That was what was adopted In the meetings following after oaks and his fellow american indians realized the prolonged occupation was possible after just camping there They visited the american

59:31 American Indian studies center at ucla Oh And they recruited Indian students for what would become the longest prolonged prolonged occupation at a federal facility by Indian people to this very day That's a long sentence. Wow, so 80 Indian students from ucla were among the people there was about 100 people total So oaks was the leader. He was most knowledgeable for being in charge of all the organization Um, and he was the chief of alcatraz the mayor of alcatraz So once they had established themselves on the island organization began immediately. There was actually an elected council Um, and everybody on the island had a job. So security sanitation daycare school housing cooking laundry And they were all made by unanimous consent of the people. It's like a little country. Yeah, I mean super hippie, right?

1:00:21 Yeah, but kind of cool. Um The federal government initially insisted that the indian people leave the island placed an ineffective barricade around the island And just didn't stop people eventually agreed to hold to hold formal negotiations with the council the indian council So from the indian side the negotiations were fixed. Um, they wanted the deed to the island They wanted to establish an indian university a cultural center and a museum All along the island the government negotiators insisted that they could have none of these and they must leave the island Wow, so early 1970 um the organization indian organization began to Oppose one another Um, some of the students went back to school which took away from the population and some went back um to their Other occupancies wherever they came from and other people came to replace them on the island The other people who came to replace them would cause a lot of problems. Oh, no They came from hippie and drug culture is what was quoted. So the final blow to the leadership occurred january 5th of 1970 Oaks's 13 year old stepdaughter fell down three floors of the stairwell through her death. Oh Her name was yvonne Yvonne passed away um and In grief of that oaks left the island and so the two competing groups were kind of warring for control, which is crazy. This is you know What a story old school stuff in like this is only like a year and a half that this went down all happening pretty fast Oh, it's like it's like an occupy event. Yeah

1:01:52 um, but based on tribal history So the federal government responded, uh officially by not interfering is what their official stance was The fbi the police coast guard they all remained clear of the island um While it appeared to those on the island that negotiations negotiations were actually taking place In fact, the government was playing a waiting game hoping that support of the occupation would subside and those on the island would elect in the occupation Those on the island had become so entrenched that nothing less than full title to the island would serve You know, that's always a good story fully entrenched people in the meantime The government shut off electrical power removed the barge which had provided fresh water to the occupiers Oh, no, and three days following the removal of the barge a fire broke out on the island Several historic buildings were destroyed been helpful water would have been nice The government blamed the indians the indians blamed the government, uh for undercover government infiltrators Trying to turn non-indian support against them. Whoa, so it could have been an inside job. Yeah, I could have the new population Yeah, new population on the island became a problem Um fighting over authority general disarray. I'm fast forwarding my own notes Um, the government didn't know who they could even talk to anymore because there wasn't oaks anymore. They didn't have someone that could Reach out to the clear as the clear leader so New problems came for the occupiers They needed to raise money to buy food and that's why they were stripping copper wiring and tubing from the buildings selling it a scrap metal

1:03:25 Three of them were arrested tried and found guilty of some 600 pounds of copper they had with them, which is a lot That's a ton in early 1971 the press which had been largely sympathetic to this point turned against them Began publishing stories alleged beatings and assaults One of the assaults was prosecuted soon. No support was found So eventually almost all things must come to an end is what I have here Um january of 71 two oil tankers collided in the entrance of san francisco bay Oh, though it was acknowledged that the lack of alcatraz light and the foghorn played no part in the collision It was enough to push the federal government into action The president nixon gave the go-ahead to develop a removal plan to take place when the smallest number of people were on the island And to use as little force as possible. Okay, the raid we discussed So armed federal marshals fbi agents and special forces police swarmed the island and removed five women four children and six unarmed american Indian men that's not a lot of people. That's all that were remaining They were they were deserting they had to so the success or failure of the occupation The success or failure of this occupation should not be judged by whether the demands of the occupiers were realized underlying goals of the american indians at alcatraz were to awaken the public to their plight and To assert the need for indian self-determination for some freedom Yeah, really as a result of the occupation directly or indirectly the official government policy of

1:04:57 termination of american indian tribes was ended and a policy of Self-determination became the official u.s. Government policy. Oh excellent some would argue that but I think it's a turning point because Well during this period the occupiers were there which is only two years President nixon returned blue lake and 48 000 acres of land to the taos indians Occupied lands near davis california shout out to dad would become home to native american university The occupation of the bureau of indian affairs Offices in washington dc would lead to a hiring of native americans to work in the federal agency That had such great effect on their lives So alcatraz may have been lost but the occupation gave birth to a political movement which continues today. Yeah Yeah, need some help. But at least it started something. Yeah, so it's a little sad that um, they They you know achieved what they were wanting to achieve but then things just started to go to go to trash It's like when the press turns against you. There's nothing else you can do about it. Yeah I mean, I I hated to say the one paragraph about oh, yeah, there was a occupation. They were you know, a raid happened It makes them look awful and it makes it loses the importance of why they were there. The real reason is A lot more meaningful than just oh they're oh and they broke the fire broke out and so then they were removed It's like well and the original occupants were mostly students at university ucla, which is a great school So they were intelligent and they had meaning and intent behind their actions

1:06:32 And it's not you know, they weren't they weren't Random people that you know needed a home. They were intentionally there And then by the end they had to go back to school, which is understandable Yeah, and so those who replaced them were just there to hang out it seemed like Uh, so kind of lost the effectiveness you just put yourself in their shoes like think about Just how much hope you would have in things changing with this and for it to go down this way It had to have just been devastating. Yeah, and You know, luckily the raid wasn't more Violent or anything. Yeah so back to the lighthouse Um, because that's what that's what we're here for little lighthouse. Yeah, so back to the lighthouse is the picture of the fire going on This is a picture of the damage afterward. You can see the quarters are gone warden's house is deroofed lots of rubble lots of um Smoke, uh, what is it called?

1:07:25 Charming. Yeah smoke ash and charring the lighthouse tower Like the lantern room just looks black. Yeah, thank goodness. It's that tall. Yeah Um, and i'm gonna show you a couple more pictures just of what the lighthouse looks like today Oh nice, they got it cleaned up sailboat cute. You can see tourists kind of hanging around. It's a beautiful day Another sailboat. I know you love those. It's a big island. This is golden hour It looks like such a tiny island on a map. It's small for the area, but it's a big piece of land So this shows the inside of the lighthouse and the lens that's up there now. So it's functioning right now. It is it still functions. Yep so this um I'll talk about touring today, but the lighthouse itself is not a part of The typical tour. Oh, so they receive I think i'm gonna probably misquote I think they said they get like 5 000 people a day on the island. Oh gosh They have these big fairies that actually i'll show you right here These big fairies that are just going to alcatraz and back to the coast. Um take people so So the lighthouse is not accessible and it's in kind of a mode of disrepair. So it needs some improvements I did read about a company that had sponsored also with the united states lighthouse society And they recorded a video actually it's on youtube of going to visit and they record the whole tour and uh This I forget what the company's I think it was land's end company was sponsoring

1:08:56 um a Architectural review into the status of the lighthouse that was going to be done what needed to be fixed Yep, and that was pre-covid but not not far before covid And they were going to assess it and then they were going to get a report on what it would take and then they were Going to see what the cost would be and then we've talked about these type of restorations before um, this one's obviously very Popular because of of so many people are aware of it in such a great city So central it's an icon of the area. So It's like accessible but far enough away to where it feels like an otherworldly, you know, like a not well known kind of thing I could not find that report. I don't know if it's been completed or not I reached out to the gentleman who won the contract Um, and he has not answered. Okay. I also found another person that worked at that company on linkedin I haven't talked to them yet either and I found a person who was an intern in 2010. Oh Who?

1:09:49 Helped to execute a similar Research event so I reached out to her you did some digging also haven't heard back from her So maybe we'll talk about it in the future. I'd love to know more about Yeah, we could do a little touch up on Yeah, civil construction architecture inspection. So I assume it's a common thing for lighthouses not common in the world, but so But I wanted to share one more thing this lighthouse So this picture on the left is taken from the top looking down the stairs. You can see a landing And just to the left of this image. There's a door The door will open and close and there's another final stair set that goes up to this lantern room Oh, and that's what we watched a movie about a lighthouse the lighthouse we'll hear a whole episode on that soon, but There there was someone who fell down some stairs and I was like, oh I didn't have the door closed You know because I just seen the video of the inside of this. I thought that was curious I don't know if it's for security or something I thought that was curious. I don't know if it's for security or fire or What it is, but there's a door at the top of the stairway Which i've never seen that kind of hatch upwards hatch thing or it's a man door. Okay. Yeah normal walkthrough door Today only the tall cement tower equipped with a modern beacon stands as a reminder Of the keepers who served on the island for over 100 years Alcatraz was declared a national recreational area in 1972 right after the occupation And made a national historic landmark in 1986 The national park service administers alcatraz island as a unit of the golden gate national recreation area

1:11:22 Oh cool. So national parks runs this you know what that means pins and patches pins and patches Also, it's like it's the perfect solution because you had the chaos of the occupation the government's like, okay We got to do something on alcatraz. Okay national parks was probably pumped about it. So yeah Yeah, they love lighthouses the rock today has these cruises like I talked about They ferry from san francisco The boats begin leaving early in the morning and they are self-guided tours. So there are audio tours you can pick up Oh, this is the best kind of tours which makes sense because it's so big. It's yeah karen As my sister went on a tour of alcatraz not long ago. So I talked to her about it took the young boys. They had fun But it's there are like group tours, but you can also go self-guided uh, and spend as much as the day as you want the again, the lighthouse is not typically available, but Sometimes people have gotten lucky. They said just someone happens to be going there So you got to coordinate your visit with coast guard Maintenance time. Yeah, but it's not it's not common if you are into it YouTube has some videos views at the top what it looks like inside some conversation Um, there's also group tours and ghost night tours available Spectacular What could be a better place to have a ghost tour? Yep And I have a note here that failed to make it into the rest of my notes There were several famous people housed as prisoners I was gonna ask if there was any prisoners that were big names or anything if you ever heard of al capone. Yeah

1:12:58 Yep That's crazy. There's a couple others, but that's the biggest is anybody escaped from here I know in the movie they said no, but I don't actually know let me look it up. It'd be a crazy swim Also, the one attempt we talked about didn't go very well No, it did not Only three people have ever escaped alcatraz Yeah, they get caught again three men brothers john and clarence algen and frank morris Oh at the same time might have pulled off what cbs news calls one of the greatest prison escapes in american history Oh, check it out more on the strangest unsolved mysteries of all time You know, they've got us hooked. I feel like they died in the water and no one knows or they escaped and they no one knows So i'll interesting we can talk about it in the future I don't want to derail us too too far because I have I have told everyone a lot of information I want to go over alcatraz island one more time for a history recap. Okay. Yeah Thank you 1850 to 51 congress approves funding for a lighthouse's eight Along california coast in response to the surge in ship traffic for the gold rush our history buoy 1854 alcatraz lighthouse turned on for the first time first lighthouse in california 1859 the alcatraz citadel a military barracks is finished on the island just north of the lighthouse 1902 the original lens is replaced with a revolving fresnel lens which flashed white every 15 seconds 1909 lighthouse is rebuilt on a new location So its operation would not be interfered by the rebuilt 600 cell citadel military prison

1:14:34 1933 Oh my gosh, there's a world war one in front of there in between there citadel military prison converted for fed federal penitentiary 1963 lighthouse is automated sad penitentiary is closed 1970 a fire during occupation of the island destroys the keepers residence and scorches the lighthouse 1972 just two years later alcatraz is declared a national recreation area as a lighthouse spectacular you know how much money was spent on Rehabilitating this place for people to come visit No I don't know millions. Well, I I'm assuming they built the dock for larger ferries I'm assuming they built some type of ticketing Had to clean up all that rubble. They had to scrub the lighthouse had to Make it safe. Yeah, make it safe to walk around at least so What an awesome lighthouse to cover I would have never thought about that one. Well, I was so anxious I just didn't know that alcatraz had a lighthouse I know you covered one right over the hill and then I was like I was like I gotta get this one done There's a Google icon made me think it was a smokestack In my defense, they do have a like a little smokestack on the other side of the island. So Maybe that's what it is. Yeah I don't know what they're referring to but yeah, there it is Clearly Could have been a water tower could have been a smokestack could have been a lighthouse. I wanted to see I want to go

1:16:07 That's all I've got for this episode. Is there anything you want to tell the people about? No, the people I have nothing to say. That's a good one because it has history around the lighthouse the lighthouse just kind of has to adapt through its lifetime to Conform to just what's going on in the island. Yeah, the island is a lot bigger than I thought it was Isn't that nuts? The lighthouse was there first before the prison Had nothing this island in the lighthouse had nothing to do with a prison and then all of a sudden it was just like prison it was occupation and fire earthquake drama drama Drama was off the chain. I just wanted a quiet life as a lighthouse on a rock. Yeah Nope. Now it has 5,000. I think people a day There was a youtube video another one that I watched with a bunch of idiots who were in their 20s A bunch of dudes. There's a one I told you they got millions of views for going to Alcatraz overnight Oh, I want to be ghost tours. No, they just went on their own. They got some Some way set up. Yeah, but just idiots and they had cameraman with them in the park sky to make sure they didn't vandalize anything but Yeah, there's a morgue. There's a cell house. There's warden's house. There's So, well, thanks for coming along everyone I uh put in some hours on this one and I hope it was entertaining very cool one. So very good Rocks Thanks for making me watch that movie

1:17:39 Did you like it? I half like it half disturbing So if it didn't have some of the gory things, would you have liked it? Yeah 100% Yeah, people getting shot and he's like Screaming at them to stop and nobody does until everyone's just dead To shame that it's a good thing it's a movie and then they're gonna execute a hostage. Yeah, but they didn't luckily Just a warning for everybody out there. Yeah, it's not a I don't know what it's rated. But it's not a feel good. I'd call it modern are I definitely thought he was gonna dump his girlfriend No, he loved her they're getting married yeah, they are All right. Thank you. I'm gonna go ahead and get my phone. I'm gonna go ahead and get my phone I'm gonna go ahead and get my phone okay So yeah it's good you guys if you would all the talent out there All right. Thank you everybody for listening in To Alcatraz island the Rock the lighthouse. We'll have a link in our Show notes. So you can See pictures of lighthouse on instagram follow us on linkedin you can check out our website all of that jazz Thanks for watching!