I wanted to sketch the actual bay of Bodega Bay but I wanted to find the right perspective (is there really such a thing).

I settled on a pullout near Spud Point Marina looking north.

It was near this location where Rose Gaffney’s house was located. Gaffney was a local rancher who led the protest against PG & E when they wanted to build a nuclear power plant at nearby Bodega Head.

Alfred Hitchcock wanted to use this location as “Mitch’s House” in his new film “The Birds” (1963). Gaffney was not a movie goer and had no idea who Hitchcock was.

The crew built a set with other outbuildings around Gaffney’s house. The house burned down in the late 1960s and the area today bears little resemblance to when the film was filmed here in the early 60s.

One filming location that has not changed since 1963 is the Potter Schoolhouse in Bodega (not to be confused with Bodega Bay, which is eight miles away).

This was the location used for the school during the corvid attack in The Birds.

The schoolhouse was built in 1873 out of local redwood. At the time of filming the building was no longer used as a school and the structure was derelict. Since filming took place the school was used as a bed and breakfast but now it is a private residence.

I pulled up on the street that the children ran down as they were attacked by a murder of crows. In the film they are running towards the Tides Restaurant in Bodega Bay. With a little movie magic, camera angles, and matte paintings it appears that the schoolhouse and the Tides are in the same location. In reality, eight miles separate the two locations.

While the school looks much the same, redwoods have now grown up around the schoolhouse and I included them in my sketch.