For a different look at Alcatraz Island and its notorious federal prison, the official tour company for “The Rock” offers a nighttime experience. The night tour differs in several ways from the daytime tours, the most obvious being the potential for creepiness factor in the dusk to dark atmosphere. The amount of people on the island is limited to 400 so it is less crowded than the couple of thousand during the day. The hospital and psych ward are opened to visitors at night. And there’s the lovely, though sometimes foggy, view back to San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. I’ve only been on the day tour and remember the wonderful birds and flowers that balanced out the stark tales of prison life. Some form of gardens have been on the island since the 1860s when it was a military prison. The plants that could survive on the dry, rocky land lasted past the closure of the prison in 1963. In 2003 a restoration effort began and there are now five garden areas that reflect the history of Alcatraz’s inhabitants.