David Hancock
"The Rock" as a Tourist Attraction

It's 1934, prohibition is the law, and organized crime is booming. You've been convicted of tax evasion and have spent the last couple years at the Atlanta U.S. Penitentiary. With several thousand dollars stuffed in the hollow handle of your tennis racket, and a warden in your pocket, you've been living life like a king. But all that's about to come to and end, you find yourself standing on Pier 41, Fisherman's Warf, San Francisco bay. It's early morning and the fog obscures your view. As it starts to lift and recede into the ocean, it takes along with it all forms of courage and hope that still remain within you. All that's left is the view before you, twenty-two acres of solid granite surrounded by a fast moving sea of icy waters. Your name is Al Capone, and you've been sentenced to carry out the last nine years of your eleven-year sentence at the most infamous prison in U.S. History, "The Rock."

Alcatraz is no longer a federal penitentiary, nor does it house any inmates. Instead, it has become a tourist attraction that allows hundreds of people a day the opportunity to experience what time served may have felt like at "The Rock." The island sits about a mile and a half off the coast of the Fisherman's Warf in the San Francisco Bay. Daily tours are available through the Blue & Gold Fleet at all hours of the day with reasonable rates. Although it is still safe to venture around most of the island, it becomes apparent, once there, that time and vandalism have taken their toll on its structure. Most buildings were built in the late 1800's or early 1900's, and many of the houses have been subject to fire, while other buildings show signs of weathering. The tours available are self-guided with or without digital audiotape. No longer do retired guards, once employed by the United States to watch the very inmates that lived there, accompany you down the cold quiet corridors. The weather on the island is cold and windy most to the time, and, with exception to the other tourist, the feeling you get while there is one of bitterness and despair. So how has this island managed to survive this long? It has survived through the interest of the people that do not inhabit it. It has survived because of tourism.

So how has Alcatraz transformed from one of the most feared prisons of its time, to one of San Francisco's most popular tourist attractions? I feel this question demands an answer because no other prison in U.S. history has ever been so popular for so many different reasons. It started as a U.S. Army fort, then became a high security prison, was then the inspiration to the Indian Movement, and ended its career to this day as a popular tourist attraction. I feel that the fears and stories that have escaped from the island during the time it was a federal prison, have heightened people's curiosity about what it was like to be a prisoner of "The Rock." Each day more and more people venture to Pier 41, they buy their ticket aboard the Old Blue, and start their adventure to the island of the unknown. "Experience the infamous Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary" (Blue & Gold Fleet, 2001). This is one of the many advertisements the Blue & Gold Fleet offer to tourist in hopes of attracting business. And after waiting in line for over an hour just to get tickets, I don't think they need to worry about people losing interest in Alcatraz any time soon. But why is that? Why do people have such an interest in Alcatraz? "Out in the middle of the San Francisco Bay, the island of Alcatraz is a world unto itself" (The National Park Service, 2001).

Here Alcatraz is being viewed as its own separate world, floating just a mile and a half out, waiting to be explored. People want to visit the island to experience that world, the world inmates experienced when they lived there, a world isolated from the rest of humanity. Visiting the island enabled me to gain that feeling first hand. The icy chill and a damp musty smell invaded my body as I walked through the old decrepit jailhouse, a feeling that was definitely separate and different than the world I'm accustomed to. I wasn't quite sure where those feelings came from or why they came to me, until I further my education on Alcatraz with my academic research. My research consisted of books and pamphlets about Alcatraz and its prison life, escape attempts, and prior history. The life I discovered in these books was not only different from normal life, but it also explained the where and why behind the feelings I experience during my visit to the island. I feel that after personally exploring the island and gaining extensive knowledge through academic research, a reasonable answer can be provided to this intriguing question. How has Alcatraz transformed from one of the most feared prisons of its time, to one of San Francisco's most popular tourist attractions?

Two forms of information inspire my approach to this question. The first idea expressed an interesting history behind Alcatraz, while the second idea gave the notion that people desire to travel. Alcatraz has one of the most interesting backgrounds of any prison in the United States. Along with Al Capone, Alcatraz held home to many other famous criminals. More than 1500 prisoners served time on that island between 1934 and 1963. But Alcatraz wasn't always a federal penitentiary. When first erected in 1853 by the U.S. Army, its sole purpose was to function as a fort defending the mainland. Six years later it became a military prison and remained that way until 1933 when it was turned over to the U.S. Department of Justice. In 1934 the island began its most famous era. For the next twenty-nine years this island would be considered the strictest prison in the system, also known as "The Rock." "In the words of former inmate Jim Quillen, prisoner #AZ586, 'Nothing could blot out the knowledge of what and where you were, or the certainty that this was all that life held for you in the future. Man was never intended to live as a caged animal; I often speculated as to whether life was worth living under these conditions'" (Dunham, 1997). Here, a former inmate suggested that sometimes the thought of death was more comforting than life, when serving time at Alcatraz. It was called "The Rock", not because it was a slab of granite floating out in the bay, but because it was a harder form of life, "it" would break "you." And although this island upheld its reputation, it was not considered by many government officials to be the most cost efficient criminal containment unit.

On March 21, 1963, Alcatraz was shut down as a federal penitentiary and all inmates were transferred off the island. For the next six years Alcatraz would be pillaged and vandalized, as it remained unwatched by any officials. Any wanting to visit the island were free to come and go as they pleased, until 1969, when 19 people, who claimed to be "Indians of All Tribes," occupied the island and claimed to be taking back the land that was rightfully theirs. Unknown at this time, this event would eventually inspire and fuel the entire Indian movement. Finally, in 1972, Alcatraz became a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. From that point on it has been know as a national park, and one of San Francisco's most popular tourist attractions. People come from all walks of life to take the tour that reveals the prison that housed America's hardest criminals. Tourism and the ability to travel with ease has preserved this historical monument and created in interest Alcatraz.

Every year multitudes of people take vacations, travel the world, and see the sites. So what makes people interested in traveling? Why spend the money, pack the clothes, rent the car, and fight the traffic of everyone else trying to travel? Is it because we hear of these wonderful places, these exotic sites, and feel a need to experience them first hand? I would like to think so. I believe that many of the travelers of today are actually tourists. According to Marielle Risse, for individuals to be called travelers they must seek the sublime, something that gives a heightened sensation, and endure hardships. People today seek what they think is the sublime, but in reality become content with the picturesque, a view that is put into the form of a framed picture. They avoid as many hardships as possible by consulting travel agents, renting cars, and staying in hotel rooms. They seek out the ruins of once great places that have been restored and made into historical monuments. People that have the desire to travel also have the power to make the banal become the sublime. Jamaica Kincaid supports this idea in her book A Small Place when she talks about contemporary tourism having the power to transform the banal into the sublime. Alcatraz wouldn't be a natural park, or a tourist attraction, if no one had an interest in visiting it. This is why the idea of its interesting history and society's ability and desire to travel has made Alcatraz become such a popular tourist attraction.

The ideas of Alcatraz spawned from the research I compiled while doing my study. My research strategy consisted of three main objectives; visit the site, gather information about the site, and research people's desire to travel. Visiting the site was not only the easiest part of the research, but also the most fun. My girlfriend and I made our journey to the city on a Saturday afternoon and enjoyed fresh clam chowder on the Warf. Afterwards we stood in line for our tickets at the Blue & Gold Fleet for what seemed like an eternity. Once aboard the ferry we enjoyed the view of the city as it drifted further away. At Alcatraz, we made our way to the top of the island were the jailhouse is located. Inside you receive your audio headset for the self guided tour. This gives you detailed information as it guides you through the cell house. After the tour, we visited the bookstore were I picked up a pamphlet about escapes from Alcatraz. We had hoped to venture around the entire island, but due to the heavy cold winds and limited time before the last ferry departure, we found ourselves making our way back to the docks and filing in line to board the boat with the rest of the tourist. Although the visit was briefer than I expected, I found what I was looking for. I, like many other people, wanted to know what it was like to be a prisoner on the island. I wanted the feeling of isolation and restriction, and it's a feeling you encounter as soon as you set foot on the island.

The pamphlet I bought at the bookstore was the start of my second form of research, gathering information of Alcatraz. Shortly after visiting the site I started to gather books of its history, more escape attempts, and articles from actual inmates. I found the books about Alcatraz's prior history to being a federal penitentiary and prison life from 1934-1963 to be the best sources to answer my question. I also started to gather information about tourism and traveling from the studies and readings I did in my Communications 195 Mobility class at San Jose State University. The book for that class was a collection of many great books that deal with people, mobility, and tourism. These readings gave me a better understanding as to why people need to travel and what it is they look for when the travel. Now that I had visited the site, gathered background information about it, and discovered why people desire to travel, I felt confident I would be able to find an answer to my question.

A feeling that is discovered when visiting Alcatraz forms my analysis of the site. However, in order to explain it to you I must first make you understand why people travel. First of all, what is a traveler? By today's standards there are very few. Majorities of people today are tourist, "Travelers experience real hardships, know the language of the country they are visiting, and have enough money to take their time" (Risse 1998, p. 46). This quote by the author gives the idea that real travelers are not constricted by time, money, language, or hardships. Most people today are on some sort of time schedule, usually determined by their flight times. They need to get in, see as many sites as possible, and get out spending as little as possible. These masters of the snapshot are known as tourist, and, "The very activity of taking pictures is soothing, and assuages general feelings of disorientation that are most likely to be exacerbated by travel" (Sontag 1999, p. 177). Tourists experience a feeling of satisfaction, they have concurred the site at hand, and now they have a picture as proof to show all their friends and family.

Tourists are on a mission to seek the sublime, a place that will give them some sort of heightened sensation. The irony is that when they do find theses places they are the very ones that transform the sublime into the picturesque, a place that holds no real meaning but merely looks good in a postcard, an idea backed up by Lofgren. In his book On holiday: A history of vacationing, he talks about the picturesque being a representation of views that are selected and framed. Some of the places tourists seek out are historical sites made up of restored ruins. These sites and monuments can act as a link to the past and even give examples of how to or how not to act. Alcatraz is a great example of this sort of site, "Just as it confers a kind of immorality on the dead, it determines our actions in the years to come" (Jackson 1980, p. 93). People are able to see what kind of drastic measures the government had to take in order to control the crime at that time. Alcatraz tells people to obey the law or be prepared for a life of bitter isolation and reform. So even if Alcatraz does fit the description of a historical site, why do people want to go there?

Although Alcatraz has a long history, I think it's the years of 1934-1963 that interest people the most. I think they want to visit Alcatraz to get an idea of what it must have felt like to be a prisoner of "The Rock." Alcatraz was a different world, one of mystery and wonder. "I was to learn it was good-bye to the world of the fantasy, however, it was hello to the world of reality" (Quillen 1991, p. 147). This quote by the author describes life on Alcatraz as a fantasy and his release to freedom as a return to reality. People are interested in that fantasy, that fear that inmates expressed while serving time. They want to feel the horror of being held in a 5x7x9 cell with icy winds whipping though the corridors and all hopes of freedom and courage stripped away. Alcatraz gives them this ability without having to actually commit a crime.

As a meaningful proposal for future research, I propose that more investigation be made toward life on Alcatraz from 1934-1963. Try to find out how the term "The Rock" came about, and what made life so difficult. Get more involved with individual stories about the inmates and escape attempts. I think it would be very interesting to hear more about the hardships and the fears of people that lived, worked, and served time on the island. Find out what made it such a feared place. The fact that inmates, the tough guys of their time, didn't want to go there is the whole reason that tourist do, to find out what was so horrible there.

The best description of Alcatraz, that would give you an idea as to why people might have an interest in visiting it, came to me from the author Julius A. Leibert. "Alcatraz squats like a scavenger bird in San Francisco Bay. The federal penitentiary there was recently condemned and abandoned, an ironic official confirmation of its symbolism. This "Rock of Cages" was a Medusa rock, hardening into stone some part of all who stayed there-captives and captors alike. The condemned and the abandoned. Even the drinking water had to be ferried from the mainland. Nothing could grow on that terrible rock, hope and mercy least of all. It was and remains a monument of man's placement of vengeance above justice, the stone-hewn documentary of a subtler Cain".

So as you can see, Alcatraz, once considered the most feared prison of its time, has transformed into a popular tourist attraction because of its broad diverse past, and people's desire to travel. They visit in hopes to find out what made it such a feared place and to experience some of those fears without the dangers. People's desire to travel and seek out the sublime, (or picturesque) has kept this historical site preserved so that its history can continue to be enjoyed by future tourist.

Works Cited