Russian Hill is many things for many people — aren’t I profound? But if you are the wife of American gangsta Al Capone, it is one of very few neighborhoods that offers prime views of Alcatraz Island, the grim place where your husband is imprisoned. In 1934, Mae Capone, who was the wife of said notorious bootlegger, knew this very fact, and thus she went apartment-hunting in Russian Hill.
From its archives, the Chronicle pulled some real estate gossip from Sept. 23, 1934, nearly 75 years ago today:
Mrs. Al Capone is apartment hunting in San Francisco. And she has selected as the district for her future home – well for the next seven years, anyway – the brow of Russian Hill. From her new apartment window – if she gets one – Mrs. Capone will be able to glance across at the grim island fortress of Alcatraz Island where her husband is imprisoned with the rest of America’s “public enemies.”
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