Sonoma County hamlet a gateway to redwoods, wineries and beaches
The Arizona Republic — September 22, 2024
BODEGA BAY, California – Never before have our feathered friends acted so horrifyingly unfriendly.
Alfred Hitchcock’s spine-chilling 1963 thriller “The Birds” was filmed in this remote coastal town of about 1,000 residents on Highway 1, a 90-minute drive north of San Francisco in Sonoma County. The film marked the first time animals on the big screen launched an organized attack against humans.
The town of Bodega Bay in Sonoma County, California, was the setting for Alfred Hitchcock’s landmark 1963 thriller “The Birds.”
Fears of avian aggression haven’t deterred flocks of tourists from descending upon Bodega Bay – and the even smaller town of Bodega located 5 miles inland as the crow flies – to see the sites where Hitchcock made movie magic more than 60 years ago.
“It’s our bread and butter,” Mitchel Mahdavi, concierge at the Bodega Bay Visitor Center, said of “The Birds’’’ impact on local tourism. “The movie is a classic and it’s appreciated now more than ever.”
I visited several sites seen in “The Birds” during a recent four-day trip to Sonoma County, which also included hiking in a redwood forest, biking past world-famous vineyards and wineries and driving along some of the prettiest coastline in the country.
A pair of seagulls perched on a fence in Bodega Bay, California, where Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 movie “The Birds” was filmed.
Hitchcock shot several of the movie’s pivotal scenes in and around The Tides Wharf & Restaurant in the center of Bodega Bay. The Tides burned down five years after “The Birds” was released. But it’s since been rebuilt and is part of a complex that includes two restaurants, a gift shop and an 86-room hotel on the other side of Highway 1.
While waiting for a table at The Tides, diners can peruse movie memorabilia and watch “The Birds” on a DVD that plays continuously. There’s also a replica of the restaurant’s outdoor façade from the movie – complete with eerie-looking plastic birds covered in synthetic feathers.
The Tides Wharf & Restaurant in Bodega Bay, California. The waterfront restaurant was prominently featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 thriller “The Birds.”
Christian Galazzo, the Tides’ general manager, told me that the 1960s owner of the restaurant, Mitch Zankich, made Hitchcock agree to three stipulations before allowing the director to film on the property:
- Bodega Bay had to be called by its real name in the movie.
- The male lead would be named Mitch (played by Rod Taylor).
- Zankich would receive a speaking part. He can be heard asking, “What happened, Mitch?” after Melanie, the character played by Tippi Hedren, was assaulted by a seagull at the dock behind the restaurant.
“Years after the film was released, (Zankich) said that if he had known how much notoriety Bodega Bay and The Tides Restaurant would have gotten from being in the movie, he would have paid Hitchcock to make the film here instead of the other way around,” said Galazzo.
A replica of the facade of the Tides Wharf & Restaurant that was seen in “The Birds” – complete with eerie-looking plastic birds – is on display at the restaurant in Bodega Bay, California.
While Bodega Bay is the centerpiece of the movie, Hitchcock also filmed scenes in the tiny hamlet of Bodega, a 10-minute drive southeast of Bodega Bay.
The Potter Schoolhouse, built in 1873, was featured as the Bodega Bay School, the setting for one of the movie’s most terrifying bird attacks. It’s now a private residence that is closed to visitors. The infamous jungle gym on which the birds ominously gathered before divebombing fleeing schoolchildren is gone.
The Potter Schoolhouse in Bodega, California. Built in 1873, it was featured in “The Birds” as the Bodega Bay School, the setting for one of the movie’s most terrifying bird attacks. It is now a private residence.
Also seen in the movie – and located right next to the schoolhouse – is the mid-19th century St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church. Hitchcock, a practicing Catholic, attended services at the church while the movie was being filmed.
The sites related to “The Birds” can easily be seen in a day, which left plenty of time to explore some of Sonoma County’s other attractions – in temperatures that were 30 to 40 degrees cooler than Phoenix.
The scenic shoreline of Goat Rock Beach in Sonoma Coast State Park in Jenner, California.
Sonoma Coast State Park is a 17-mile stretch of picturesque coastline full of rocky bluffs, sandy beaches and hidden coves. The park begins at Bodega Bay and runs north along Highway 1 past the town of Jenner. Along the route, there are numerous places to park for photo stops or to find hiking trails leading down to the beach.
Before logging operations began in the 19th century, much of Sonoma County was covered with redwoods. Most of the majestic trees are now gone but Armstrong Woods State Reserve in Guerneville still offers 805 acres of Sequoia sempervirens, commonly known as coastal redwoods. They are some of the oldest and tallest trees on the planet.
Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve near Guerneville, California, is home to more than 800 acres of coastal redwoods.
We enjoyed a short hike to see the famous Colonel Armstrong Tree, which is taller than the length of a football field and believed to be more than 1,400 years old.
Perhaps Sonoma is best known for its world-class wines, attracting enthusiasts for its Pinot noirs, Chardonnays, Cabernet Sauvignons and other varieties.
California’s Sonoma County is known for its high-quality wines. The region produces far more wine grapes than the Napa Valley.
The county has more than 425 wineries spread out over 19 distinct American Viticultural Areas and produces far more wine grapes than California’s Napa Valley.
We took a 20-mile e-bike tour through Dry Creek Valley near Healdsburg in the heart of Sonoma’s wine country, biking past 30 wineries and stopping for tastings and lunch along the route.
The Dry Creek Valley in northern Sonoma County, California, is a popular spot for bike tours. The area is home to 9,000 acres of vineyards and more than 70 wineries.
In Geyserville, we visited the Francis Ford Coppola Winery, named after the acclaimed filmmaker and vintner who owned the property before selling it in 2021 to a Napa-based company. It apparently made “The Godfather” director an offer he couldn’t refuse. (Coppola still sits on the winery’s board of directors.)
Five of Coppola’s Academy Awards along with other movie-related memorabilia are on display at the winery.
Francis Ford Coppola’s Academy Awards for “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” are on display at the Francis Ford Coppola Winery in Geyserville, California.
There are daily two-hour nonstop flights on American Airlines from Phoenix to Santa Rosa’s Charles M. Schulz Sonoma County Airport. The “Peanuts” creator lived and worked the last 30 years of his life in Santa Rosa, the county seat and Sonoma’s largest city.
Sonoma offers a wide variety of places to stay, from campgrounds to boutique wine-country B&Bs to high-end resorts. We stayed at a waterfront cottage at River’s End in Jenner at the convergence of the Russian River and Pacific Ocean. The River’s End Restaurant on the property offers wonderful seafood dishes and an outdoor platform with spectacular views of the sunset.
The sun sets over the Pacific coast as seen from the River’s End Restaurant & Inn in Jenner, California.
As for Bodega Bay, on our way out of town we stopped for lunch at a popular eatery fittingly called The Birds Café. Located on Highway 1 at the north end of town, the restaurant has a patio overlooking the sea.
I considered ordering the chicken strips but quickly thought better of eating anything born with feathers. I didn’t want to risk provoking the seagulls perched on a nearby fence.
The fish tacos seemed like a much safer choice.
© 2024 Dan Fellner
Website: Sonoma County Tourism: http://sonomacounty.com
