In addition to being the setting for countless movies including Clint Eastwood's "Escape From Alcatraz" and Burt Lancaster's "Birdman of Alcatraz" the island of Alcatraz aka "The Rock" has also been the setting for some music videos. Eighties metal guitar gods the Scorpions chose the former prison setting, smack in the middle of the San Francisco Bay as their set backdrop for the video of their  popular song "No One Like You." (see clip below).

The next decade horror-core, hardcore Sacramento producer/rapper Brotha Lynch Hung  got permission to shoot on Alcatraz for scenes for one of his music videos. During the overnight shoot Brotha Lynch Hung swore on his life to me, in an interview for XXL at the time,  that he witnessed a ghost in one of the creepy abandoned old cells on the small island.

Listed as a historic landmark for over twenty years the best way to access daily tours of Alcatraz (home to the oldest operating lighthouse on the west coast) these days is by taking the ferry from either the Fisherman's Wharf in SF or from the other direction: Angel Island and Tiburon. For more information on Alcatraz, which is well worth a visit and is administered by the National Park Service click here. 

Like the close by and even bigger  Angel Island, where you can even camp by booking in advance, a lot of times people who live in the immediate Bay Area tend to never bother to visit (outside of mandatory guided trips when they are kids in school) and this is too bad because often what is on our own doorstep is worth a visit over a lot of out-of-town destinations. The state park of  Angel Island, is  probably the best and most immediate rural , remote-feeling getaways for those who live in SF but who don't have a car to drive for miles/hours on end.