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Lizziebizzi's USA
near San Francisco
3/10/10On the ferry from San Francisco to Larkspur we passed this building. We didn’t pay too much attention, but on the way back we noticed some structures that looked like prison guard towers. Would it really be a prison, what with (the former prison of) Alcatraz being so close? Yes, said the person we asked, that’s San Quentin.
San Quentin, wow! Another famous prison, actor in a couple of films, subject of many books and of songs, etc.
So here’s what the internet tells us: it opened in 1852, and is the oldest prison in California.
During its construction, inmates slept on a prison ship, and during the day helped build the new prison.
It has the only gas chamber and death row for male condemned prisoners in California, so all executions must happen there.
But it is also the only prison in California with an on-site college degree-granting program.
For more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Quentin_State_Prison
http://www.insideprison.com/
You can even see a list of notorious inmates that were and are ‘housed’ in San Quentin. It’s a weird sensation to see those names together, with the crimes they committed.
In 1969 Johnny Cash gave a concert in San Quentin:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zgja26eNeY
And in 1990 B.B. King recorded ‘Live at San Quentin’ in the prison.
You want to know more about prison life? Go see the French movie 'Un prophète'.
It's excellent, but you stand warned: it's a very hard and violent movie that can be hard to take. It made me pretty miserable.
Guestbook Comments (15)
Hi, Lizzie,
From back in DC. Thanks for your note on my page. Re: your photo, I heard that Merle Haggard was in the prisoner audience when Johnny Cash gave his concert at San Quentin and that he was inspired thereby to get out of jail and make guest appearances rather than resident commitments. It could be true!
Cajun country is a land of tall tales, half of which are true. The bad news is that you don't know which half. The good news is that it doesn't matter.
We had a good time and learned a lot.
Hope you are well.
All the best, Paul
Right you are, Lizzie, Merle was indeed in the audience. I heard my friend Joe Uehlein tell that story from the bandstand a couple of weeks ago (his band, the U-Liners, does a few Merle tunes) and assumed it had at least some basis in fact.
Re: I'm at work for the rest of this week; then in Seattle next week for my granddaughter's birthday (my daughter's is six days after her little one's), and then back in harness until the end of June. Really, though, I've already kicked over the traces at work. I get done what needs done, but my mind's in a hundred other places. :-) (Kinda sounds like a country tune, eh?) xo, P.
Dag Lizzie,
ik ben nog niet helemaal uit mijn jetlag, maar al wel weer aan het werk, dat gaat maar door :)
mijn reisje naar Washington en het verre Louisiana is zonder enige wanklank verlopen, geen dwerg gezien ;-) maar wel veel bijzondere mensen gesproken en bijzondere dingen gezien: wat 'n landschap zeg, die wetlands. we hebben net als jij destijds ook mijn illustere naamgenote bezocht . . .
wat Le Prophète betreft - bij het zien van de trailer had ik al gegeten en gedronken, comme on dit.
groet!
Wow! I had no idea that San Quentin was so old! Even the bricks of the prison turn lovely in the sun.
Hugs!
Cindy
And oh yes, I am ready for the snow to stop but it might be a while longer before we have spring ...
Ah, the lady wants to know all . . .
:D
Heb je woensdag 17 al iets? Dan moet ik 's middag naar ASD, how 'bout a rendez-vous in DB dan pak ik een trein eerder om ff live bij te praten . . . bvb, 12 uur onder aan de roltrap op het station?
Ciao,
Lizzie,
I paged quickly through your NOLA photos. I think I got a capture of your saxophonist, as well. He's wearing an orange shirt now, I believe. You saw the Laura plantation! We probably hard the same tour, word for word! Plus ça change, eh? I'm off to Seattle tomorrow morning, for granddaughter's birthday parties (the kid party, Saturday, and the boring family/grownups party, Sunday), and to do a little preliminary househunting and some renewed family bonding.
Everything good with you, I hope?
I'll have lots of NOLA pix, but they require a bit of annotation, so I'm going to start "swamp week" tomorrow by taking my thumb drive with some quickly tweaked pix from the tour up in Kraemer, conducted (in French, for the most part) by notre capitain intrepide, Roland Torres. "Un alligateur!" he cries, and all the members of the tour bus rush to one side of the boat. Très très drôle! I understood easily enough what this was all about. Of course, when he started discussing racoons and nutrias and how to call them in Cajun and Parisian French, well, then I got a little lost, but no matter: furry creatures. Well, I think you will hear more about this soon enough, so I'll wish you good night.
Hugs, Paul
No sé cual es la cocktelería de Montjuic.
A mí me gustaban "Las ratas", el del ciprés creo que lo leí en el colegio y que entonces me pareció aburrido, pero igual tenía 12 años...
Hello Lizzie, interesting picture. For some reason I'm fascinated by old prisons. I think this one may have been in a film with Sean Connery. You got a good shot here.
Thanks for your comments. The young photographer did not notice me. He was very busy trying to take picture of the gulls but his over-enthusiasm was only scaring the away. I was quit far away and using a long zoom lens.
It's become very spring-like here. I hope you enjoy the day, Greg
eheheh... well, it's something more easy to guess than what you can imagine... a broken car window into a snowstorm. but looked so good!
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Very interesting, Lizzie... so many films tell about it. Kisses.