The Spanish christened it Isla de los Alcatraces, Isle of Pelicans. But to generations of moviegoers and newspaper readers, the island in San Francisco Bay has been better known as the Rock, the ultimate roost for a tougher kind of fowl —the jailbird. Alcatraz was decommissioned as a prison in 1970 and is now part of the Golden Gate Recreation Area. Since it was opened to the public by the National Park Service last October, the U.S. equivalent of Devil's Island has become San Francisco's biggest tourist attraction.
To date, more than 60,000 visitors...
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