HomeThe Birds Filming Locations
“The Birds” Filming Locations
The two scenes everyone pictures from Alfred Hitchcock's “The Birds” (1963), the schoolyard attack and the church on the rise, were filmed in the inland village of Bodega, about five miles from the coastal town the film is named for.
Set in Bodega Bay. Filmed in Bodega.
“The Birds” takes place in a fictionalized Bodega Bay, the coastal fishing town where Melanie Daniels drives up from San Francisco. But the two scenes most people picture, the crows swarming the schoolhouse and the church standing over the village, were filmed about five miles inland, in the separate village of Bodega. The confusion is built into the movie itself: Hitchcock cut real inland buildings, real coastal water, and studio sets into a single town that does not exist in any one place.
This page sorts the real locations from the invented one. For the plain difference between the two communities, see Bodega vs. Bodega Bay. Both villages sit about 65 miles north of San Francisco, roughly a 1.5-hour drive.
Scene by Scene
Six scenes,
four places.
“The Birds” is set in one town but was assembled from several places. Two of its most iconic land scenes were filmed here in the inland village of Bodega. The water is Bodega Bay, five miles west. The rest is San Francisco and the Universal lot.
Inland Bodega
The Schoolyard Attack
Potter Schoolhouse, built 1873
The crows massing on the jungle gym, then chasing the children down the hill, make up the film's most famous land sequence. It was shot at the Potter Schoolhouse in the inland village of Bodega. The two-story Italianate building had closed as a school and stood empty by 1962; the crew repaired and repainted its façade for the camera. It is a private residence today at 17110 Bodega Lane, viewable only from the road.
Inland Bodega
The Church on the Rise
St. Teresa of Avila Church, 1859
The white church that stands over the schoolhouse, its steeple rising behind the children as the birds gather, is St. Teresa of Avila, a short walk away in the same inland village. Built of redwood in 1859, it is among the oldest continuously used Catholic churches in Sonoma County and had already been photographed by Ansel Adams in 1953 for the image known as "Church and Road." It remains an active parish.
Bodega Bay
Where the Locals Shelter
The Tides Wharf & Restaurant
The waterfront restaurant where the townspeople take cover as the attacks escalate was the Tides Wharf & Restaurant, on the Bodega Bay waterfront about five miles west on the coast. The building the film used has since been rebuilt and greatly expanded into the larger complex that stands there now. This is one of the scenes genuinely set and shot in Bodega Bay, not the inland village.
Bodega Bay
Crossing the Bay
Bodega Harbor and Bodega Head
Melanie Daniels motors a small rented boat across Bodega Harbor to deliver the caged lovebirds, and the gulls first turn on her near the far shore. Those water and headland shots were made around Bodega Bay and Bodega Head, the peninsula that closes off the harbor, with part of the crossing finished as a matte effect. Bodega Head is a coastal viewpoint today, known apart from the film for gray-whale watching from roughly January through May.
Universal Sound Stage
The Town That Was a Set
The post office and town interiors
Much of what reads on screen as the town of Bodega Bay, including the post office and several interiors, was never filmed on the coast. Hitchcock had those pieces built as sets on the Universal lot in Southern California, where he could control the light, the birds, and the mechanical effects. The town in the film is a composite: real inland buildings, real coastal water, and studio construction cut together.
San Francisco & Universal
The Opening Searchers Expect
Union Square, then a studio set
The film opens in San Francisco. Melanie crosses the street at Union Square, near Geary and Powell, on her way to buy a pair of lovebirds. Those street shots were taken on location, reportedly filmed discreetly from a covered van. The pet shop interior, where Hitchcock makes his signature walk-on cameo, was a set built at Universal. None of the opening was shot in Bodega or Bodega Bay.
Visiting the Locations
- Potter Schoolhouse is a private residence at 17110 Bodega Lane. View and photograph it from the road only, and do not disturb the people who live there. More on its history is on the Potter Schoolhouse page.
- St. Teresa of Avila Church is an active parish a short walk from the schoolhouse. The exterior is always visible from the road; please be respectful around services. See the St. Teresa of Avila Church page for more.
- The Tides Wharf is in Bodega Bay, about five miles west on the coast, and Bodega Head is about eight miles west. The buildings the film used have changed considerably since 1963, so the water and the headland read closer to their 1962 selves than the storefronts do.
- Getting there: both villages sit about 65 miles north of San Francisco, roughly a 1.5-hour drive. Plan the day on the Visit page, or see every landmark on the Attractions page.