Alcatraz Island Lighthouse and passed suitable acts in the years 1851 and 1852 to build seven lighthouses on the West Coast to guide navigation. The Baltimore firm of Gibbons and Kelly was awarded the contract to build seven lighthouses in California, at Alcatraz Island, Fort Point, Point Pinos, Point Loma, Farallon Island, and Humboldt Bay, and one at Cape Disappointment in Washington State. Equipment were shipped on Oriole, reached San Francisco on January 29, 1853. The Alcatraz Lighthouse was the first to be completed in July 1853, making it the oldest major navigational light on the West Coast. However, the foundation for building
June 1962 Alcatraz escape attempt Island served as a prison. The film "Escape from Alcatraz" (1979) stars Clint Eastwood, Fred Ward, and Jack Thibeau as Morris, John Anglin, and Clarence Anglin, respectively. West (fictionalized as a character named Charley Butts) was played by Larry Hankin. The escape was shown in a two-part 1980 TV movie made by Telepictures Corporation (now owned by Warner Bros.): "", which starred Ed Lauter as Morris, and Louis Giambalvo and Antony Ponzini as the Anglins. "Terror on Alcatraz" (1987) starring Aldo Ray as Morris, returning decades later to the scene of his escape from Alcatraz, scours his old prison cell