I recently wrote a couple of articles for HubPages about the history of Alcatraz. The first was a general history of Alcatraz. The second was a more in-depth look at the period of time during which Alcatraz was taken over by Native American activists. Hopefully you’ll be interested enough to take a look at those articles but if not I thought I’d share with you some of the key points in the history of Alcatraz.

The history of Alcatraz basically progressed as follows:

• It was named by Spanish explorers who didn’t even land on the island at the time due to the rocky choppiness of the waters surrounding it.
• In the middle of the 19th century the military realized that this island could be useful. They turned it into a military fort.
• Alcatraz switched from being a military fort to becoming a military prison.
• The military abandoned its use of the island. However, it was still considered to be a good place for a prison. That’s when the Alcatraz federal prison was established there. This is the most famous time during Alcatraz’s history. What most people don’t realize is that it only lasted thirty years.
• There were several years during the 1960′s and 1970′s during which it was taken over by Native Americans. The land had been abandoned and activists took it over as their own. They started a Native American education center. A fire ran everyone off of the island in the early 1970′s.
• It became obvious that this would make a good tourist attraction. That’s what it is today. Periodically people talk about turning it into something else – like a big casino – but so far it remains just a place for guided tours.

Tags: alcatraz, alcatraz history, history of alcatraz, native american alcatraz

Weburbanist recently had a terrific article about the history of car/planes. These are vehicles that can both drive and fly. The article caught my attention because it wasn’t all that long ago that I wrote about the Terrafugia Transition which was being dubbed the world’s first flying car. What I learned from the Weburbanist article is that this is not the first car of its kind at all!

Some of the other stuff I learned from the article:

• The first working prototype of this type of vehicle was made way back in 1917. That’s almost one hundred years ago! It didn’t actually fly but it did get off the ground. Amazing!
• These types of vehicles were commissioned during the Great Depression because it was believed that they could be built for less than normal airplanes. Hm.
• One of the leading designs of the the twentieth century ended up scaring people off because it crashed during testing and killed the pilot.
• One guy, Paul Moller, has been working on his driveable plane design for over four decades.
• The Terrafugia Transition looks a lot like a design called The Aerocar which is arguably the most successful design to date.
• The biggest problem with these car designs to date is that they’re too heavy on the air and too slow on the ground. If that issue can be remedied then these vehicles may just take off.

Tags: airplane car, car plane, driveable plane, flying car, roadable plane

Yesterday I went on a really amazing walking tour of some of the murals in the Mission District here in San Francisco. I mostly went to get outside, see my city and learn something new. I had no idea just how much new stuff I would learn. Turns out that murals are more complex and interesting then I ever knew!

Here’s ten interesting facts about murals that I learned yesterday:

1. Murals are so much more than pretty pictures; they have a much deeper meaning. The artwork in a mural is very well thought out. It is designed to represent a specific community at a specific point in history. It is often designed to make a political and / or social statement. The details in the murals add up to a bigger message.
2. Murals are not designed by one person; they get input from a whole community. One person might head the project and one artist might even do all of the work but designing a mural usually involves groups of people.
3. San Francisco has over 1000 murals. There are 200 – 300 murals in the Mission neighborhood alone. As far as I am able to tell that’s the most number of murals in a single neighborhood anywhere in the world.
4. There are many different styles of murals. These styles include cartoons, fine art, mixed media, mosaics, 3d cutouts and graffiti art.
5. The main difference between graffiti and murals is that people who do murals have permission from the property owner to do them.
6. Graffiti artists almost never tag on murals. This is because the murals are part of the community and they respect that. Tagging on murals does happen of course but the social message of murals and their ties to the community tend to prevent this problem from happening on a grand scale.
7. There are three muralists from Mexico who played an important role in bringing murals to the U.S. They were called Los Tres Grandes. They are Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros and Jose Orozco. These are guys to learn more about!
8. Many murals change over time. They may represent a specific time in history but they decay and are repainted and change a little bit. There’s actually a community mural in the Mission that features a bunch of portraits of people who live in the neighborhood. It was done in the 1970′s. When it was updated in the 90s there was one man pictured who still lived in the neighborhood and they changed his image so that he looked the way he did twenty years after the original image was painted.
9. Murals may be painted indoors or outdoors. They may be big or small.
10. Murals date back to the caveman era. Some eras have been particularly important in certain areas. For example there were a lot of San Francisco murals made in the 1930s and again in the 1970s. Murals can be found all around the world today.

Tags: mission murals, mural art, mural facts, murals, san francisco murals

I just returned from a really great trip home to Tucson. The point of the trip was, of course, to visit my family. However I ended up actually doing a lot of fun things during my stay. I went hiking in the desert with my mom, sis and the dogs. I went to a terrifically unique book reading by Sausalito author Richard Polsky with my dad and sister. I saw not-so-great-but-still-unique Aztec dancers. And I got a chance to get a new look at a place I’d been before that’s a Tucson attraction of sorts: Old Town Artisans.

Old Town Artisans is a set of stores that are all grouped together in Downtown Tucson. In the center of them is a courtyard where there are live music performances and other things to see and do. I had been here before because there are musicians featured there every year during the Tucson Folk Festival which I used to attend frequently with my dad. I had checked out some of the shops in the place before but never explored the area in depth.

It turns out that the shops are all housed in what used to be a large home. I learned this because my sister got to talking to a vendor in the courtyard who makes Native-American-style pottery using the clay that she digs up herself from the local riverbeds. It turned out that this woman used to work for the place and was very interested in Tucson history so she knew all about the building. She ended up giving us a little tour of the shops to show us about the way that it was built.

The tour ended up providing us with a lot of little tidbits of Tucson history that I didn’t really have much awareness of before now. The building was constructed in the nineteenth century. At the time it was the home of a single extended family – housing great-grandparents, great-grand-children and everyone in between. Our guide walked us through the building and pointed out things that I never would have noticed on my own – like the areas of the roof that were built from old wine barrels, the packing crates that the family arrived there with and ribs from old saguaro cacti. We learned that the pine used to construct part of the building was taken from Mt. Lemmon but it took about six weeks to go up to the mountain in a horse and buggy and bring that wood back down. These days we consider Mt. Lemmon a short drive up to see a nice scenic view of the city. How different it was back then!

The woman that was giving us the tour even had some old pictures of what the building looked like over one hundred years ago. At one point it had been turned into a general store complete with a root cellar in the bottom and a canvas painting on the outside. We saw these pictures and got to stand in the store that exists there today which is, of course, quite different from the old general store. We learned that this place had been everything from a distillery to a brothel. It was almost torn down not so long ago but was then saved by someone interested in preserving Tucson history and is now the home to artists working in the Southwestern style.

It’s not that this place is particularly fascinating exactly. It’s not that the art here to see is stunning. It’s just that this is one of those little Tucson gems that I’ve been to but never actually paid attention to before. It goes to show that there are new things to be discovered everywhere that you might spend your time even if you think that you already know all that there is to know about a place. Keep your eyes open, talk to other people about the places that you visit and be willing to learn something new every day!

Tags: old town artisans, smartchick, Travel, tucson

The photo of the day is back. I don’t know if other people are too interested in this Diary of a Smart Chick feature since nobody responded in the comments when I asked for feedback about it but I like posting photos so I’m going to keep it up for now. Would still love some feedback. Today’s photo is of the Rocketboat that I mentioned in the earlier post today.

Tags: images, Photos, rocketboat, san francisco boat tours, san francisco rocketboat

It’s been unusually sunny and warm here in San Francisco this week. It’s only in the high eighties but that’s close to record-breaking heat here for this time of year. Although I’m from Arizona, I’ve adjusted to the cooler temps in San Francisco and have to admit that it’s hard for me to take an interest in doing much of anything while it’s so hot here. I feel like eating popsicles and being lazy.

However, yesterday, I found the perfect activity for this kind of weather. Every time it gets warm here I wish that I owned a boat. Thinking about that I remembered the Rocketboat. It’s touted as “the fastest boat on the bay” and a real adventure ride for tourists. It’s a new thing that’s only been here maybe a year or so and I hadn’t been on it yet. Despite the fact that a lot of tourist stuff here is cheesy, I like to do it all at least once to get the experience of it. So, I decided to go on Rocketboat.

It was totally worth it! It’s a speedboat built for a big crowd of people.  It speeds out into the bay, beneath the Bay Bridge, and skids around a bit to make some waves and splash the riders. Silly fun. The weather was ideal – it wasn’t cold at all out on the water but there was a nice breeze on the fast boat. The skies were clear so I got to see stunning views of the city’s skyline and the two bridges. Beautiful.

I love living in a city where I can wake up in the morning and decide to do something like ride the Rocketboat!

Tags: boat rides san francisco, rocketboat, San Francisco, san francisco attractions

When I learned that there’s a peak in San Francisco where a huge concrete cross towers over the city, I had to go check it out. It’s not that I’m particularly interested in the cross itself but was curious about how I’d never heard it existed. It’s on Mt. Davidson … interesting place.

Tags: cross, mt. davidson, Photos, San Francisco

Yesterday’s photo was actually of Coit Tower here in San Francisco. Today’s photo was taken the same day but it’s of the view from Coit Tower. This is looking East towards the Ferry building. I like the way the tree leaves frame the top of the picture.

Note: This is blog is more than just a photo blog. Normal posts resume August 1st.

Tags: coit tower, ferry building, Photos, San Francisco, skyline, view

I live fairly close to Coit Tower in San Francisco. It’s a tough hike up a steep hill to get up there but once you do get there, you get a great view of the city. You also get to see a statue of Christopher Columbus although I have no idea why they decided to put a statue of him up there. I love the way he’s juxtaposed with the tower in this photo.

Note: This is blog is more than just a photo blog. Normal posts resume August 1st.

Tags: christopher columbus, coit tower, photo, pictures, San Francisco

We went and had dinner at AsiaSF. The transgender dancers perform on the bar in the middle of the restaurant. I adore this photo I got of one of those dancers in action:

Tags: asia sf, dancing, kathryn vercillo, Photos, pictures, transgender