California Gold: Sunshine in Sausalito

Watching the boats on the
Richardson Bay.

"I heard Barry Bonds lives here."
"Probably doesn't actually live here. Probably just has a house."
"Must be nice."

I made a day trip to Sausalito with my parents. We were enjoying the scenery of the boats and harbors on our left and the shops and tree-covered hills to our right. Spectacular houses were nestled imperiously among tall pines and firs. We were only a few miles from downtown San Francisco but we might as well have been halfway down the coast.

Vista Point, Marin County

The quiet town is situated near the northern end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Prior to the building of that bridge the town served as a terminus for rail, car, and ferry traffic. Sausalito was once the site of a Coast Miwok Indian settlement known as Liwanelowa. The branch of the Coast Miwok living in the area were known as the Huimen. Early explorers of the area described the natives as friendly and hospitable. According to Juan de Ayala, "To all these advantages must be added the best of all, which is that the heathen Indians of the port are so faithful in their friendship and so docile in their disposition that I was greatly pleased to receive them on board." A few generations later, the Huimen were gone, displaced by the visitors.

Main strip in Sausalito.

We stopped into a small place for lunch called Fish. They specialize in serving sustainably caught seafood. I sat on the sun-drenched deck looking south across Richardson Bay towards San Francisco, sipping a cold Anchor Steam, watching the boats linger by, believing life could never be better.

The first European known to visit the present-day location of Sausalito was Don José de Cañizares. This was on August 5, 1775. He was head of an advance party dispatched by longboat from the ship San Carlos. The crew of the San Carlos came ashore soon after, reporting friendly natives and teeming populations of deer, elk, bear, sea lions, seals and otters. They also reported an abundance of large, mature timber in the hills, a valuable commodity for shipwrights in need of raw materials for masts and planking. Today the place is filled with expensive houses, delicious seafood restaurants, and charming little candy shops. It's also home to some famous celebrities and sports stars like Barry Bonds.

Looking towards Frisco.

Downtown San Francisco can be a high-speed, cutting edge, bundle of energy for locals and visitors alike. Sausalito, just across the bay, is a completely different story. It's a relaxing port and ebbs along much more slowly than its urban counterpart. Any visit to the Bay Area wouldn't be complete without a pit stop in Marin County in the little harbor town of Sausalito.

The Lone Sailor Memorial in Marin County, just south of Sausalito.

 The statue, a replica of the Lone Sailor in DC, represents a sailor's last view of the West Coast as he sails out for duty at sea.

The plaque reads:
The Lone Sailor 
This is a memorial to everyone who ever sailed out the Golden Gate in the service of their Country – in the Navy, the Marine Corps, the Coast Guard, the Merchant Marine.

A ship heading for sea passes directly by this spot at the northern end of the Golden Gate. Here the Sailor feels the first long roll of the sea, the beginning of the endless horizon that leads to the far Pacific.

There is one last chance to look back at the city of San Francisco, shining on its hills, one last chance to look back at the coastline of the United States, one last chance to look back at home.

Thousands and thousands of American seafarers have sailed past this place, in peace and war, to defend this Country and its sea frontiers. Many of them never returned. This monument is dedicated to the ordinary Sailors and Marines who sailed from this place and did their duty.

Base of the Lone Sailor Memorial.

View of the Golden Gate Bridge from the Vista Point at the Lone Sailor Memorial.

Docked in the harbor of Sausalito.

Pops relaxing with a view of Horseshoe Bay in the background.

Lovely flora of Marin County.

One of boardwalks near the Sausalito Yacht Club.

A water fountain near the center of town.

Tourists in the foreground. Beautiful houses in the distance.

The main drag of Sausalito.

The Vina del Mar Park.

A view of the Richardson Bay.

Outside the Barrel House Tavern restaurant.

Wares in the candy store.

California Gold: Kirk Hammett's Guitars, San Francisco

Kirk in action via
fansite.

I've been a fan of Metallica since Master of Puppets was released in 1986. The band will still be making music in 2017, an unbelievable 34 years after their studio debut of Kill 'em All in 1983. I've seen the band play a number of times, but one of the most memorable performances for me was a show in Cincinnati where I had front row seats, stage center. I was close enough to see the custom made Universal Monsters guitars played by Kirk Hammett. Guitars with the Mummy, Frankenstein's Monster, and Dracula beautifully represented on the body.

Fast forward just over 20 years. I am flying north from LA to San Francisco (Metallica's home town) for business. When I arrive at the San Francisco airport, I find a large display near the terminals of Mr. Hammett's vintage horror film memorabilia collection and a few of his prized guitars. These are the same guitars he's played in countless concerts. The same ones shown in various Metallica videos. And the same ones I saw him play at the show in Cincinnati during my youth.

There are a million great reasons to visit San Francisco. Stepping off an airplane and seeing such remarkable creations as these might be gilding the lily but I won't complain.

California Gold: Under the Golden Gate Bridge

Photography by Jason McKenney.

On a boat ride through the night, our captain woke us up at 5 AM to let us know we were passing underneath the Golden Gate Bridge on our way into the San Francisco Bay. The air chilled me to the bone, but the visuals of this amazing piece of engineering were too stunning to let disappear without taking some snaps.

Approaching the bridge. San Francisco looms in the background.

The bridge was completed in 1937. It has 6 lanes and supports both the 101 and 1 freeways

Looking north towards Marin County. A very foggy NorCal morning.

Inside the bay.

Looking back at our wake as the fog blankets the Pacific.

Alcatraz Island

California Gold: Alcatraz Island, San Francisco

Vintage firetruck on display on
the island

Text and photos by Jason McKenney

On the night of June 11, 1962, inmates Clarence Anglin, his brother John Anglin, and Frank Morris tucked papier-mâché heads resembling their own likenesses into their cold beds. They proceeded to break out of the main prison building via an unused utility corridor, and departed Alcatraz Island aboard an improvised inflatable raft, never to be heard from again. It's likely the men drowned in the chilly waters of San Francisco Bay long before reaching their intended destination of Angel Island to the north. It's possible their bones are still down there in the murky green water that beautiful sailboats criss cross on a daily basis. They're down there, resting uneasily, staring up with hollow sockets at an unachievable freedom for eternity.

Approaching the prison by boat

Alcatraz is filled with many weird and evocative stories like this one. Papier-mâché heads, Indian land reclamation, haunted corridors. So goes the history of an island that was once a Civil War era citadel, then the location of a US Military Prison, a Federal Penitentiary, and that today is a state park and museum.

I made a visit to the island and toured the prison with my parents during a trip to San Francisco. We rode the daily tinder from Pier 33 off The Embarcadero out to the island on a gorgeous day below a cloudless sky. The island sits between the Golden Gate Bridge to the west and the artificial Treasure Island to the east. Its more modern cousins sits a few miles north up the bay in the form of San Quentin State Prison, an over-populated jail that will probably provide its own fun tours and experiences to the public at some point when it eventually shuts down.

A tour of Alcatraz includes a brief history of the prison, a list of some of the more famous inmates who passed through, descriptions of daily life, and insights into the beauty that the island provides today (namely being a natural habitat for various birds and plants that call the island home). The small island was developed with facilities for a lighthouse (which today is the oldest operating lighthouse on the West Coast), a military fortification, a military prison (back in 1868), and a federal prison from 1933 until it was shut down 1963.

Beginning in November 1969, the island was occupied for more than 19 months by a group of Native American people from San Francisco who were part of a wave of activism across the nation with public protests through the 1970s. In 1972, Alcatraz became a national recreation area and received designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Golden Gate in the distance

Our tour included a self-guided portion where one can wear headphones giving lurid tales of foiled escapes, bloody prison fights, and other such hijinx that happens when you have hundreds of criminals locked up on an island for long periods of time. Locked up behind bars where the sounds of a partying San Francisco could be heard wafting in across the bay from the city each night. A city that was not far away, but impossible to reach.

There allegedly are spirits of dead prisoners still roaming the dark halls. I took extra photos in hopes of catching a shape or an orb or anything that might possibly be an apparition. No luck as usual. The only ghosts here are in your mind as you think back to what it must have been like to be trapped in

Alcatraz . . . and sailing.

such a horrid concrete box. Prisoners trapped in their own Phantom Zone, forever awaiting escape, some willing to risk their lives just for the opportunity to swim in shark-infested waters. Must have been rough. But no need to dwell on such dismal thoughts for too long. Speaking of wafting across the bay, I can hear Fog Harbor Fish House and a zesty Shellfish Tower calling my name for lunch.

Approaching the prison by boat

Tour guide getting everyone in line

A hazy San Francisco Bay

San Francisco. So close, yet so far away.

Alcatraz Island. The prison and lighthouse are at the top. The docks are on the right.

Looking out from the prison towards the city.

Headed back to Pier 33