Alcatraz has more stories than its dark past as America's most feared prison. One part of its history is the Indian occupation from the winter of 1969 to the spring of 1971, when a band of American Indians seized the island after the prison closed. They hoped to turn it into an Indian cultural center, or perhaps a small university devoted to native studies.

Thursday is a red-letter day in the history of Alcatraz Island - the 50th anniversary of the day the prison closed. It was the end of one era and the beginning of another.

The largest cash gift in national parks history is intended to be the catalyst to create 10 acres of parkland connecting the heart of the Presidio to Crissy Field and the bay.

Four government agencies and a nonprofit support group--the National Park Service, California State Parks, the Marin Municipal Water District and the county of Marin--have bonded together in an unusual agreement to help preserve and protect Mount Tamalpais, Marin County's signature mountain.

BioBlitz 2014: volunteers have 24 hours, from noon Friday through noon Saturday, to inventory living things - plants, animals, insects, fungi, even bacteria - in the vast Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The goal is to add to the park's official species list and to stress the importance of protecting biodiversity.

This 80,000-acre urban park is one of the nation's largest and the most beautiful. Spanning 70 miles, it's rich in history, plant life and wildlife. It's also a major feat of rehabilitation and restoration.

Search “San Francisco” in the Getty Images stock-photo library and more than 350 pages of photos will pop up, including of beautiful shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and other SF landmarks.

The highly anticipated “@Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz,” which opens to the public on Saturday, depends too much on the sort of patience and reflection that few people may ever bring to a tourist destination.

The Golden Gate Bridge’s Round House has been the focal point for the icon’s southern edge. Long a gathering place for miserable out-of-towners in shorts pointing helplessly at impenetrable fog and the spot where Lycra-clad, Sausalito-bound cyclists dodge the 29-Sunset buses, it’s now serving food.

The words of dissidents, political prisoners, and free speech advocates are everywhere in "@Large," a multi-work exhibition by renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei now open on Alcatraz Island — embossed on kites, represented in LEGO portraits, and echoing from speakers hidden behind jail cell vents.