Many of the shots of the children running from the schoolhouse were done on Taylor Street in Bodega Bay above the Diekmann’s Bay Store with the original two story store visible at the bay’s edge. The Catholic Church, briefly visible in the film, was made famous when it was photographed by Ansel Adams. The school teacher’s house was a façade erected during the filming. Today it is a private residence and is sometimes open for tours. After Alfred Hitchcock’s crew repaired the exterior it was used for several scenes. Theresa’s Church five miles south of Bodega Bay in Bodega, was vacant at the time of the filming. The 150 year old Potter School behind St. Nearly three years were required to complete work on the film for its release in 1963.

The fog did not always cooperate, so much of the film needed to be tinted gray. Special effects, including mechanical birds, live and wild birds on strings, and optically altered film overlays of birds in flight made this a most frightening film. “The Birds” became the first horror/ fantasy film. Never had a director portrayed animals working in unison with intelligence.

Evan Hunter, who had written “The Blackboard Jungle” and “Last Summer” wrote the screenplay Alfred Hitchcock financed the film from his successful television show.

Based on a short story by Daphne DuMaurier, the original story took place in an English seashore village where murderous birds attacked the local villagers. After filming “Shadow of A Doubt” in Santa Rosa in 1948, Alfred Hitchcock returned to Sonoma County in 1961 to find a remote coastal location for his next project “The Birds.” He chose Bodega Bay, with surrounding bleak treeless hills, quiet fishing harbor and fog.

Alfred hitchhock