Last updated: March 29, 2021
Place
22 - City Skyline
WAYSIDE DESCRIPTION: Cream colored, horizontally oriented panel with a dark banner running across the top. The banner reads “Golden Gate National Recreation Area” on the left and the National Park Service logo on the right. The panel features a small paragraph, a faded background image of the skyline view, a quote, and multiple images spanning the width of the panel.
TEXT: City Skyline. “So close, yet so out of reach” On a clear day or night, the view of San Francisco from Alcatraz is surely one of the world’s most beautiful cityscapes. Some inmates wanted none of it – seeing the free world so close, and yet so out of reach, was too painful.
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGES: A painting done by an inmate shows the city skyline as seen from Alcatraz and is broken down into 7 separate images. The paintings feature the docks, different landmarks like Coit Tower, the Palace of Fine Arts and ends with the Golden Gate Bridge on the right.
CAPTIONS: San Francisco, circa 1950s. Inmate John Paul Chase made notes of the view when he was in the exercise yard at work detail and created these paintings from his cell, working from memory. Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, the Palace of Fine Arts, and many other landmarks were part of Chase’s view in the 1950’s. Much has changed in San Francisco since Chase was here. Can you spot the differences between his paintings and the current view? Or the areas where his memory was faulty, causing him to misplace landmarks?
QUOTE: “It was all there for you to see…everything I want in my life, and it’s there. It’s a mile and half away and yet I can’t get to it.” – Jim Quillen, inmate from 1942 to 1952.
TEXT: City Skyline. “So close, yet so out of reach” On a clear day or night, the view of San Francisco from Alcatraz is surely one of the world’s most beautiful cityscapes. Some inmates wanted none of it – seeing the free world so close, and yet so out of reach, was too painful.
DESCRIPTION OF IMAGES: A painting done by an inmate shows the city skyline as seen from Alcatraz and is broken down into 7 separate images. The paintings feature the docks, different landmarks like Coit Tower, the Palace of Fine Arts and ends with the Golden Gate Bridge on the right.
CAPTIONS: San Francisco, circa 1950s. Inmate John Paul Chase made notes of the view when he was in the exercise yard at work detail and created these paintings from his cell, working from memory. Coit Tower on Telegraph Hill, the Palace of Fine Arts, and many other landmarks were part of Chase’s view in the 1950’s. Much has changed in San Francisco since Chase was here. Can you spot the differences between his paintings and the current view? Or the areas where his memory was faulty, causing him to misplace landmarks?
QUOTE: “It was all there for you to see…everything I want in my life, and it’s there. It’s a mile and half away and yet I can’t get to it.” – Jim Quillen, inmate from 1942 to 1952.