Alcatraz Island (former federal penitentiary)

Alcatraz Island housed a federal prison from 1934 to 1963 and is now a National Recreation Area managed by the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Photographs of the cellhouse, exercise yard, and dock are frequently reproduced in books, documentaries, and online imagery. Those images have been widely repurposed in internet memes and image macros to symbolize isolation, incarceration, or dramatic escapes. The island remains a major tourist site accessible by ferry from Pier 33.