Re: Alcatraz- SF Gate Article

06/18/10 - posted by Johnamartini

Hi Karen K. That must have been the late, great Bill Whalen. He looked so old to us, yet he was only about 33 when GGNRA was established and he became first General Superintendent.

Ironic about parking problems at the wharf. In those days the boat departed form Pier 43 (right next to the big arched railroad dock) and there was actually on-street parking all around the wharf. You could generally find something pretty close to the Eagle Cafe, which at that time was still located at street level and populated by an eclectic crew of longshoremen, writers, aging beats and poets, and off-duty Muni drivers, all of whom apparently started drinking sometime around 7:30 AM. Most were toasted by the time we got there for scrambled and french bread at 8.

Then the developers started construction on the much-loathed Pier 39. Adios parking. And aloha to the old Eagle. It was physically transported to the new Pier 39 and plopped on an upper-level terrace, where the new denizens became shorts and T-shirt wearing tourists from Iowa.

Today the Alcatraz boat leaves from a bit further east at Pier 33, and when I volunteer there on the island the cheapest parking I can find costs me $8 on a weekday, or $15 on weekends.