Angel Island

Ayala Bay is named for Lt. Juan de Ayala of the Royal Spanish Navy.  His ship sailed
into San Francisco Bay in 1775 and is thought to be the first ship to ever sail into the bay.
Ayala anchored at the island and christened it "Isla de los Angeles"

Alcatraz

Angel Island sits quietly in San Francisco Bay like the shy teenager at the party while glamorous and famous Alcatraz gets all the attention.  But take a little time and get to know her and you will see that she has much to offer in natural beauty and a rich and complex cultural history.  The island has been by turns an immigration station and a first stop in America for over a million immigrants from more than 80 countries, a civil war artillery camp, a "processing facility" for prisoners of war, a Nike missile base during the cold war, a quarantine station established to prevent plague, cholera and smallpox from spreading to the US, and, finally, became a California State Park in 1963. 

Facilities used to house immigrants and prisoners of war are open to the public
and interpretive displays tell poignant tales of their time at Angel Island.

Chinese people were specifically excluded from immigrating to the U.S. by the
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.  While many of the 175,000 Chinese that were
detained at Angel Island stayed for up to ninety days there were some who
were kept at the island for two years while their cases were reviewed.

Poetry written by Chinese detainees and carved into barrack's
walls provides a glimpse into their experiences at Angel Island.

From the civil war through the Cold War the  federal government had a presence on Angel Island
 that lasted for almost 100 years.  The Army finally abandoned the island in 1946
only to return again in 1954 to establish a Nike missile site.
The site became obsolete in 1962 and  the Army left the island.

Abandoned structures that were once part of Fort McDowell
can be seen at the island's East and West Garrisons.

One of the three army hospitals built on the island.

A perimeter road encircles the island and provides spectacular views of San Francisco Bay.

Boats from San Francisco and from Tiberon in Marin County run daily to Angel Island.

More information about visiting Angel Island is available from California State Parks. 

Mission Dolores

San Francisco's Mission Dolores

The formal name is Mission San Francisco de Asis, but it has been known as Mission Dolores since the first mass was held in 1776.  Named after a small stream nearby, Arroyo de Nuestra Senora de los Dolores, the mission was the sixth to be established of California's 21 Missions. Mission Dolores is unique in that it is almost completely intact as it was originally constructed. While buildings around it collapsed during San Francisco's 1906 earthquake, Mission Dolores' four foot thick adobe walls remained standing and unharmed. The original redwood logs supporting the roof remain in place to this day lashed together with rawhide.
  

The ceilings have been repainted over the years but they remain true to the
original Ohlone Indian designs which were painted with vegetable dyes.
The main alter was created in San Blas Mexico in 1796.

The side alters were also made in Mexico but installed much later in 1810.

The Mission's simple baptistry is still in use today.
Written records have been preserved for
Mission Dolores 28,000 baptisms.

Burials in the adjacent cemetery took place from the time of the Mission's
establishment until the 1890's. 

A sculpture of a contemplative Father Junipero Serra adds
to the peaceful feeling of the old cemetery.