If you missed this event, check out our calendar of Sonoma Coastal Activities, and take in one of the local cheese tours, or even olive oil tours.  It’s fascinating and delicious.

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• Live Music
• Entertainment
• Wine Tasting
• Seafood
• Food Booths
• Beverages
• Crafts Fair
• Exhibits
• Children’s Events
• Kite Flying
• Raffle Prizes
  

Special events:

• Golf Tournament
  (707)875-3538
• Boat Challenge
• Parade of Pets
• Llamas on Parade
• Boat Parade
• Blessing of the Fleet

 Note: The boat parade passes right in front of "At The Bay’s Edge" at 11:30 on Sunday…the boat parade is always a favorite! 

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There are three local creameries that offer tours.  All the creameries are within a half hour of "At the Bay’s Edge" in Bodega Bay, California.

Cow Girl Creamery is located in Pt. Reyes Station, and they feature all organic farmstead and artisan cheeses. They even feature an extensive "cheese library" on their site, check it out, you’ll learn a lot!

Bellweather Farms also features artisan cheeses and they have a wonderful archive of recipes and a very interesting newsletter.

Spring Hill Jersey Cheeses in Petaluma has been in business for 91 years, and offers extensive cheese tastings, a petting zoo and free hay rides!

Enjoy!There’s really something for everyone here.

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Art Galleries in Bodega Bay

There are 5 art galleries within a few miles of "At the Bay’s Edge", as well as many others throughout Petaluma, Sebastopol, and Occidental. They feature local and diverse artwork….each gallery has it’s own unique style and focus.   It’s great fun to go in and talk to each of the owner’s about their art / shows as well. 

Here they are: 

Local Color Artist Gallery, 1580 Eastshore Road, Bodega Bay

Bodega Landmark Studio, 17255 Bodega Highway, Bodega

Branscomb Gallery, 1588 Eastshore Road, Bodega Bay

Heritage Art Gallery, 1580 Eastshore Road, Bodega Bay

The Ren Brown Gallery, 1781 Coast Highway One, Bodega Bay

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Bodega Bay is located appx. 1 hour north of San Francisco. 

The most geologically significant feature in Bodega Bay is Bodega Head.  "The Head" is a peninsula that separates the ocean and Bodega Bay.   It’s very dramatic, and features both steep rocky bluffs and windswept sandy dunes. Bodega Head offers a dramatic place to hike, watch the sunset, and watch whales migrate in Jan/Feb. and April / May.

Directly across from the Head is Doran Beach and RV Park.  Doran is a long beach formed by the Bodega Bay currents.  The ocean side of Doran is well known for surfing and body boarding.  The harbor / bay side is primarily a wetlands area. 

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Bodega is also home to numerous antique stores, a gallery, and many festivals throughout the year. The Cup O’ Mud Coffee Shop is a tiny, friendly cafe that serves excellent coffee and tea. On a nice day, seats out front are a good place to watch the people go by.

The "downtown" itself is only about a 1/4 mile long but it’s packed with diverse shops, antique stores, a casino, lots of people, and lots of activities. Enjoy!

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Located amongst 400 acres in the heart of the wine country, Safari West is home for over 400 exotic mammals and birds. Safari West is a wildlife preserve where the animals roam free and the whole family can experience these animals in their natural habitat. Tours are offered in an authentic safari vehicle three times a day in the spring and summer months, twice a day during the winter. Take your binoculars and camera and enjoy this incredible experience!

eed the call of the wild with an adventurous safari tour. Explore the entire 400 acres of Safari West in a three-hour adventure led by one of our highly experienced guides in an open-air, authentic safari vehicle. The experience includes a drive through our "Sonoma" African Bush where you will be at one with the wild, observing giraffe, gazelle, scimitar-horned oryx, ostrich and other species of African antelope all living together and sharing this exotic savanna setting. In one area you may find a cape buffalo and a zebra enjoying a refreshing break at the nearby watering hole; look in another direction and see eye to eye with a wildebeest … if you’re lucky! The habitat was designed to give the animals the ability to interact and roam about freely.

Then it is on foot for a journey through the grounds of Safari West where you will spot a cheetah or two, giraffes sticking their necks out for you, the primates on lemur island going ape, resplendent birds soaring over in our amazing open-air aviary, as well as an abundance of other animals.

Like lemurs? You will after visiting our incredible Isle of Lemur, complete with three-story lemur condo (a log with three hidden night rooms), feeding areas that allow the animals to forage for their food, and a variety of climbing structures.

Safari West is only an hour from "At the Bay’s Edge"….the place for Bodega Bay Lodging that let’s you stay RIGHT ON THE WATER!!

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

Never had a director portrayed animals working in unison with intelligence. “The Birds” became the first horror/ fantasy film. 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 fog did not always cooperate, so much of the film needed to be tinted gray. Nearly three years were required to complete work on the film for its release in 1963.

The 150 year old Potter School behind St. Theresa’s Church five miles south of Bodega Bay in Bodega, was vacant at the time of the filming. After Alfred Hitchcock’s crew repaired the exterior it was used for several scenes. Today it is a private residence and is sometimes open for tours. The school teacher’s house was a façade erected during the filming. The Catholic Church, briefly visible in the film, was made famous when it was photographed by Ansel Adams.

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. Close ups of the running scene were set up at Universal Studios with the children running on a treadmill. Taylor Street is about a half a mile north of the Visitors Center.

Various restaurant scenes, portions of the gas station fire, and the boat dock scenes where filmed at the Tides Wharf and Restaurant. The actual fire was lighted in a parking lot at Universal Studios with a mock up of Highway One and the Tides Wharf. The fire was also filmed from a helicopter for film footage that was superimposed on a painting of a fishing village. The village center in the movie was a set. The Tides Wharf was completely rebuilt in the 1990’s and is located across Highway One from the Visitors Center.

The ranch house on Westshore Road, part of the Gafney ranch that had occupied Bodega Head for nearly 100 years was used for exterior shots of the Brenner House. The derelict structure, now part of the U.C. Marine Laboratory in the Sonoma Coast State Beach, was repaired by the film crew and used for exterior shots, including the children’s birthday party and the end of the film. The house has been demolished, but the ancient cedar trees look much the same as they did in “The Birds.” The cedar grove is across the harbor from the Visitors Center and is visible from Highway One.

The scenes of Tippi Hedren driving her Aston Martin into Bodega Bay were filmed on Bay Hill Road, about a mile and a half north of the Visitors Center. There is a guide book with more information about the filming of “The Birds” available at the Sonoma Coast Visitors Center in Bodega Bay.

Learn More About The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock

Want to see some stills from the movie
with some pictures of what the town
looked like when the Birds was filmed?

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