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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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?
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
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?
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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?
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?
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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?
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
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
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
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
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
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!