Alcatraz Island Prison

On 22 May 2010, I posted about a cable car in San Francisco. This is another magnet collectibles I also bought from the same souvenir shop at Pier 39 San Francisco during my 7 days trip to LA-Las Vegus-San Francisco in May 2009.

Alcatraz Island is an island located in the San Francisco Bay, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) offshore from San Francisco, California. Often referred to as The Rock. Alcatraz was used as a federal maximum-security prison from 1934 until 1963, when it was closed due to high costs and security issues. Over the years it was home to Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelley, and Robert "The Birdman" Stroud.

Later, in 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received landmarking designations in 1976 and 1986.

This magnet represents a prisoner trying to escape 'The Rock" which during its 29 years of operation, the penitentiary claimed no prisoners had ever successfully escaped.

Cable Car - the Icon of San Francisco City

The Inventor of the cable car, Andrew Hallidie, a Scot mining engineer moved to U.S. in 1852. His father filed the first patent in Great Britain for the manufacture of wire- rope. As an engineer, he found use of this technology in California’s Gold Country, in designing and building a suspension bridge across Sacramento’ American River and to pull heavy ore cars out of the underground mines on tracks.

After witnessing a horrible accident on a typically damp summer day in 1869, he got an idea to use the technology to become full blown-cable car railway system to deal with San Francisco’s fearsome hills.

On August 2, 1873 Andrew Hallidie tested the first cable car system near the top of Nob Hill at Clay and Jones Streets. Cable cars remained the primary mode of transportation until April 18, 1906 earthquake, when most of system was damanged. A municipal railway replaced most lines afterward. Today, they're the only vehicles of their kind still in operation and they are designated National Landmarks.

San Francisco was the first city to have cable cars.
I got this magnet from Souvenir Shop at Pier 39 San Francisco during my 7 days trip to LA-Las Vegus-San Francisco in May 2009. It was a fun and tired trip. I enjoyed San Francisco Scenary, the cable car, Lombard Street and the Golden Gate. Such a memorable trip.

Learn More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Francisco_cable_car_system