The open expanse of pavement the trio land on is the old Parade Field.
It is located located beside an oval-shaped area full of rubble, ruins from the apartment buldings
where guards lived with their families.
Note the burned-out Warden's House on the edge of the cliff plus the water tower and powerplant smokestack on the other side of the island.
Here's the island seen from the opposite end.
Part of Alcatraz' intimidating atmosphere stems from the decayed state of the outbuildings.
This end of the island features the easiest access to the water (i.e. the shortest drop-offs) and was used by the Anglin brothers in what may have been the only successful excape attempt from Alcatraz (their bodies were never found).
This corridor between two primary rows of cells (B-block on your right, C-block on your left) is called Broadway.
Because a clock is located over the entrance to the dining hall, that section of the cross-corridor is called Time Square.
This photo was taken half way down the corridor standing in a cross-corridor or 'cut-off'; if you turned around, you'd be facing identical rows of cells just on the other side of the cross-corridor.
These isolation cells are back to back with the row of C-block cells seen in the picture above except for a narrow utility hallway between the two rows of cells containing the pipes and wiring for each cell. The isolation corridor, or 'block,' faces small windows overlooking San Franciso. See the sunlight shining on the bars and walls? Prisoners suffered from freezing breezes coming through these windows... and of course, from the view of a beautiful city only a mile and a half away, a constant reminder of what they were missing.
Note the cells with doors instead of bars. These are the 'holes.' Prisoners in these cells received very little light.
All photos by Andrea Pistolesi from the Bonechi photo book ALCATRAZ with text by Richard Dunbar.