Bodega Bay

Sister cities

• Totma

History

The port of Bodega was occupied for a short time, in 1793, by a Spanish garrison and four guns, which were soon removed, however, to Monterey, there being no indication of the threatened English occupation which had caused the alarm. Bodega Bay is the site of the first Russian structures built in California, which were erected in 1809 by Commerce Counseller Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov of the Russian-American Company in the lead-up to the establishment of Fort Ross. The Russians named the Bodega Bay settlement Port Rumyantsev after the Russian Foreign Minister Nikolai Petrovich Rumyantsev, and it served as a port to support Fort Ross and the larger Russian community known as Colony Ross. The town is now named in honor of Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra, a Spanish naval officer who explored the west coast of North America as far north as Alaska during multiple voyages of discovery in the late 18th century. The location scenes in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed film The Birds (1963) were filmed in both Bodega Bay and nearby Bodega (though both were represented as being parts of the film's Bodega Bay.) The town markets itself by using the film in many ways, including its Birds-themed visitors' center although none of the film's primary locations is found there. The church and the schoolhouse shown in the film are on the Bodega Highway in Bodega. The town also featured in the cult horror film Puppet Master (1989). The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) wanted to build a nuclear power plant at Gaffney Point on Bodega Head, across the bay from the town, in the 1960s, but the plans were shut down after a large protest (the first for environmental reasons) and the geologic fault which was found while it was digging the hole for the first reactor. The hole filled with…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of , of which is land and (33.37%) is water. The town lies on the edge of Bodega Harbor. Bodega Bay itself extends south along the coast to Tomales Bay. North of town lies a long coastal exposure of alternating rock outcrops and sandy beaches which is known as Sonoma Coast State Beach. South of town, the coastline includes Doran Regional Park, Estero Americano Coast Preserve, and the Estero Americano estuary at the Sonoma–Marin county boundary.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Salmon Creek School - A Charter
  Middle · Occidental · 144 students · 18:1 ratio
• Monte Rio Elementary
  Elementary · Monte Rio · 59 students · 11.8:1 ratio
• Harmony Elementary
  Elementary · Occidental · 51 students · 17:1 ratio
• Bodega Bay Elementary
  Elementary · Bodega Bay · 24 students · 24:1 ratio