Hello there. What do you actually need
for a good horror movie? Serial killers, severed body
parts, splatter effects? Well, 60 years ago,
Alfred Hitchcock showed that you actually don't need any of that. You only need a few birds. Yeah, the Birds is perhaps, maybe besides Psycho, one of the most important
Hitchcock horror movies ever. It tells the story of the millionaire's
daughter, Melanie Daniels, who wants to surprise her new crush,
Mitch Brenner, and travels to the tranquil and rather spooky village of Bodega Bay,
but immediately is attacked by a seagull. Yeah,
and the horror begins. This legendary horror movie has been filmed in the year 1963
in California in the USA. And today it's time to show you. The famous filming locations of this famous movie and to show you how they
have changed within the past 60 years. Time for a new movie location tour. *There subtitles were auto generated by YouTube
and might contain translation errors.* The first place want to show you today is also the first place that you
can see in the movie The Birds. It's the pet store that you can see right behind me that Melanie Daniels visits
at the beginning of the movie. It's in San Francisco,
to be precise, at Union Square. And in reality, it's a fashion store. Let's check it out. And here we are at Union Square, like Melanie Daniels is
in the movie The Birds. And once again, I have to say what a beautiful and also
interesting town San Francisco is. If you have watched my latest shooting location tour of Full House, I already
showed you a lot of San Francisco. And the funny thing is, most of the time, this town looks a little
bit like a village. It's because of Full House, small, historic Victorian houses you
see here in every street. But right here at Union Square,
san Francisco finally looks like a huge, huge city with everything that you would
expect from a huge, huge city, like skyscrapers and monuments
and stuff like that. You will find everything
here on Union Square. And there are even more skyscrapers
today than in the past. If we compare those scenes in detail,
we can see there is a huge, huge tower in the middle of the picture
that hasn't been here 60 years ago. If I did my research right, this should
be the tower of the Hilton Hotel. And this hotel of this building has been
finished in the year 1970, which means seven years after
the movie The Birds has been released. So obviously, this building
hasn't been here in the past. There are also a few more buildings you can see here in reality that you
don't see in the movie. For example, the huge building right next
to the Hilton Tower on the right side. And there is also some kind
of a futuristic building in the background that you also do not
see in the movie scene. What's still here are those buildings
on the right side that you can see here, also including those billboards
on top of those buildings. You see that in the past there was some
kind of an advertisement for what is that? Air Force. Air Force for a journey to Paris. Meanwhile, there is advertisement for things that didn't
even exist 60 years ago. For example, the airports. But also still here are those lanterns on the right that you can
also see in the movie. And also this monument is
still here like 60 years ago. And if we take a look at the left of the picture,
there is something different because we can see here in reality, there is a huge
building which says Sex Fifth Avenue. This is a luxury department store chain. And in the movie, we can see there is
some kind of a building on the left side. But it looks a bit different than
what we see here in this scene. Let's follow Melanie Daniels over the street and maybe we will find
out what happened to that building. And here she is, Melanie Daniels
walking across the road. And indeed, we can see in the background
there is a different building. And I also found out what
this building actually is. This is the so called Fifth Hue building,
which was torn down in the 1980s because Sex Fifth Avenue, the luxury department
store chain, bought this property. They wanted to build a shop there, but that unfortunately didn't
work with the Fitz Hue building. So they demolished it in the 1980s,
which many residents in San Francisco didn't really like,
because it actually was a quite historical building built in the 1920s
in a Renaissance style. So there were a lot of protests at that time because of the demolition
of this famous building. However, meanwhile, the Sax Fifth Avenue building is historic
itself because it's also standing here. For more than 40 years now, Melanie Daniels has crossed the street
and now she's turning onto the sidewalk. And what we can see here in this scene is the building in the background, which is
the west in hotel at Union Square. And the funny thing about this building is, well, it looks much better
today than used to 60 years ago. Look at the windows. They don't look that inviting, right? Boy. But that's just my personal opinion. The funny thing about this hotel is Alfred
Hitchcock himself stayed at this hotel. Why they shot the movie The Birds, and he also stayed in this
hotel why they shot this scene. And that's because they filmed the scene secretly from the inside of a furniture
van, not to attract too much attention. So maybe that's my guess. At least Alfred Hitchcock was looking out of some window of the Westin Hotel
while they shot the scene. But, yeah, you can't really see him. What we can see here today
in reality is an advertising pular. In the past, there used to be a newspaper stand on the left side and some
garbage cans on the right side. I'm not really sure if this newspaper stand is a real existing newspaper stand
or if this was just a set, because in the next scene,
something interesting is happening. Melanie Daniels walks right behind this newspaper stand,
and then something happens that we, as professional YouTubers,
would call a transition. So a cut that you don't really notice. Melanie Daniels walks behind the newspaper
stand, the camera turns to the left, and then Melanie Daniels comes out
right in front of this pet shop. The pet shop that in reality
doesn't exist. And that's not because they demolished
the building at this place. No, this building has never been here. All the scenes have been shot in a studio. This what you can see here is a set. And also the inside scenes you can see
in the movie have been shot in a studio. So everything you see here in this
scene is not real in reality. There is a fashion store here. One last fun fact about the scene. If you look very closely in the movie,
you will see a cameo appearance by Alfred Hitchcock himself, because he's
coming out of the door in this scene. But, yeah, maybe you won't even notice. And before we leave this interesting place, we do exactly what also
Melanie Daniels does in the movie. She looks back on Union Square. She sees all the birds getting
ready for their attack. And here we can also see those two important things that still exist today,
and that also happened here in the movie. We can see a monument on the left side,
which is the Dewey Monument. It has been built in 1903 and is dedicated
to Admiral George Dewey for his victory in the Battle of Manila Bay
during the Spanish American War. And we can also see those famous
lanterns on the right side. Unfortunately, there is no real
story about those lanterns. They are just here,
and they are very historic. They have been here 60 years ago,
and they are still here 60 years later. But I would say that's it from this place. Now let's move on. So that's it from San Francisco. And now let's do exactly the same what Melanie Daniels does
in the movie The Birds. Let's go from San Francisco to Bodega Bay. And if you thought I'm pretty sure
Bodega Bay, that's not a real town. That's a fictional town,
like it always is in horror movies. Well, you're wrong. Bodega Bay is a real town. And also, what they tell you
in the movie is absolutely correct. It takes one and a half hours
from San Francisco if you take the highway, or 2 hours
if you take a coast road. I don't have that much time. And I'm also a bit smarter
than Melanie Daniels. Hopefully. So we take the highway. Yeah, let's see how Bodega Bay looks like. Let's go. To Bodega Bay. And that is also the road that Melanie
Daniels is driving with her eston. Martin in the movie The Birds. However, she's not really driving,
as you can see in the movie. She's sitting in front of a blue screen
or green screen, or whatever that is. But this should be the road. The only thing that's different is in. The movie, you can see there is a marking in the middle of the road
that you can't see in reality. Maybe it's not here anymore, I don't know. Yeah, but what you can see is
the beautiful nature that you can also. See in the movie. And I would say, let's
drive a little further. Let's go to Bodega Bay,
and maybe you will also find one or two. Scenes that have been filmed on this road,
even though it's quite difficult, because. Yeah, all you see is nature. Yeah, but let's try it. Yeah. Let me show you a few scenes
you can see in the movie. This is Melody Daniels in her car. In this scene, you actually can't see the
road markings in the middle of the road. But in this scene you can see them. And you can also see those
beautiful green mountains. In this scene, we have
a view on the road itself. And also in this scene,
we can see the coast road. And, well, me as a European,
the first thing that comes to my mind when I see those pictures is
it looks a bit Irish. It looks a bit like this
has been filmed in Ireland. It could also be the coast road
of Galway or something like that. Anyway, in reality it doesn't really look like that, because if you have seen
my latest videos, you might already know it's quite hot and dry
right now in California. So it's also not that green
like it is in the movie. It's actually quite the opposite. And what I also didn't find are those exact scenes you can see in the movie,
and also this view of the road itself. I really don't know where this has been
filmed, so I'm not even 100% sure if this is the exact place where they
have filmed those scenes. The Internet says it's
this road, Bay Hill Road. But yeah, I don't really know. Anyway, it was quite fun to drive this road through the mountains
like Melanie Daniels did. So the feeling of the movie The Birds
was definitely there by an advertiser. So here we are in the famous Bodega Bay,
and I've already seen a few seagulls. Maybe I should go back home. I don't know, whatever. Every shooting location tour, as you might
know, comes with a little disappointment. This time it's a huge disappointment
because the Bodega Bay you know, from the movie doesn't really
exist like that in reality. You can see a lot of scenes in the movie that are actually a set full house
that have been built to film the movie. For example, right at the beginning,
when Melanie Daniels comes into town with her car, then she goes into a shop
and asks for the address of Mitch. Also the scene at the end of the movie when the gas station explodes
and stuff like that, that's all set. There are fake houses. They don't really exist here in Bodega Bay, which is a bit sad because
obviously we can't visit them today. What does exist, however,
is the pier that is shown in the movie and also the restaurant, the Tides,
that is shown in the movie. A lot of times. Unfortunately, this building burned down
many years ago, so they built a completely new restaurant over here
with the same name. But it's obviously a different building, and obviously many things
have changed in this area. However, I would say let's walk around here a little bit and let's see
if we can find some scenes. Anyway. Yeah, I'm excited. Let's do it. Yeah, I would say let's start with this
scene, because here you can see Bodega Bay and the harbor of Bodega Bay
in all its glory. And this is how it looks like today. I'm pretty sure this scene has been filmed more or less from this place because
Bodega Bay has a little hill in its city center, and there is also a huge road
that goes right through the village. That's exactly the road we took
when we came here with the car. And you can see this road, and you can also see the hill
here in the movie scene. And you can also see that here. In reality, those houses on the left
side and on the right side are sets. As far as I know, they haven't
really been here in Bodega Bay. They just built them for the movie. But I'm also not 100% sure if they really built them here in Bodega Bay or if they
have built them in a studio and they just put the harbor of Bodega Bay
in the background. That's one of all those little
secrets of the movie, the Birds. You don't really know,
and nobody knows anything about it. There is a story about this gas station that you can see in the movie
that explodes at the end of the movie. This has been filmed in a studio. For example, they didn't really let a gas station explode here in Bodega Bay
that has been filmed in a studio. So I'm pretty sure there are a few scenes
that have been filmed in a studio, a few scenes that really have
been filmed here in Bodega Bay. But what scenes exactly? Well, I can't really tell. What I can tell you is you can still see the new Tides restaurant, which,
meanwhile, is at a totally different place than it used to be 60 years ago,
which makes it even more difficult to tell where the exact locations
of this movie are. Obviously, in the past, the Tight restaurant was on the left,
as you can see here in the movie. Meanwhile, it's standing in the middle of this harbor, so yeah,
it's super complicated, but anyway. Way. This is how Bodega Bay looks like today. This is the reverse shot. Once again, we can see this little hill. Melanie Daniels is driving down
the hill with her Eston Martin. And we can see a lot of Bodega Bay in the background,
which isn't here anymore in reality, because this has never
been here in reality. All of those houses you see here are sets. Also, this little little post office Melanie Daniels walked in to ask
for directions was a Et. It was never here in Bodega Bay. The only thing where I'm not
100% sure is the gas station. As I told you, the explosion
was filmed in a studio. But in reality, if you take a look at the right side,
in reality, right behind the bushes, there really is a gas
station here in Bodega Bay. So I don't really know if this maybe
was a real gas station in the past. Also, the building right beside it, tires, batteries and stuff like that,
I really don't know. Maybe this will always remain a secret. Here. We can see Melanie Daniels. She's asking for a boat in the harbor. And also this boat dog unfortunately isn't
here anymore today, because also this boat dog burned down together with the
Tight's Restaurant in the late 1960s. So it's gone. But I think this scene has been filmed more or less from this direction,
because you can see the village, Bodega Bay, the rest of the village
in the background, you see that. And you can also see that here
from this direction. So I think this more or less should be
the position they have filmed this scene. And here you can see Ms. Daniels taking the boat
to Mitchell's house. And that, I think, has been filmed from over here,
because we can see all those beautiful mountains and hills in the background
that you can also see here in reality. Well, and before we leave this harbor,
this used to be the Tide's Restaurant in the 1960s when they
have filmed the movie. We can also see the telephone box on the left side where Melanie Daniels
hides when the birds attack. Well, this is how the Tides Restaurant
looks like today. This is the new building. It still has the same flare like
in the movie, but it's a totally different building and a totally different
place and much bigger, obviously. At well, if you are a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan in this building,
you will also find a souvenir shop with a lot of stuff of the movie
The Birds that you can buy. So if you're interested in that,
you can spend all your money here. The next filming location on the list is not as disappointing as the harbor
because no sets have been built here. Nothing burned down. Everything you see here still exists. And I'm talking about
the famous school house. And here it is, the famous school house as we know it from the movie
bodega Bay School. In reality, this is not Bodega Bay school. This is the so called Potter School House, which in reality, meanwhile,
is a private home. So, unfortunately,
you can't visit it from inside, but you can visit it from outside,
outside the fence. You have a beautiful
view on this building. It really is beautiful, right? Obviously, they renovated it
within the past 60 years. Look at this beautiful dark
green color around the windows. And, yeah, in the movie,
it didn't look like that. It actually looks a bit
run down in the movie. And I also read that they obviously
rescued this building for the movie because actually the plan
was to tear it down. But where? Then Alfred Hitchcock came and they
rescued this famous school building. What else do we see? In this scene,
we can see a church on the right side, which actually doesn't really play
an important role in this movie. You only can see it in a few scenes. This is the Church Sant Theresa of Avila. And actually, this church is quite famous
because there is a quite famous black and white picture by the photographer
Ansel Adams from the year 1953. Here's Ms.
Daniels opening the door of Bodega Bay School, which, meanwhile,
has this beautiful dark green color. It was not like that in the past. And also, the railings
look totally different. I'm pretty sure they built
completely new ones here. At least it looks like it. In this scene, we can see
this house in all its glory. Melanie Daniels is coming
with her eston Martin. She's driving down the road. And what we can see here is
obviously, there is a forest. Meanwhile, right behind the school house. It has grown within the past 60 years. In the movie scene, we can see a house on the left side of
the road, which obviously still exists. There's still a house
on the left side of the road. Unfortunately, it's covered with trees,
so we can't see it from this direction. But what is not here anymore is this. Is that even a building on the right side? Actually, it looks a bit more like junk. I don't know. That's definitely not here anymore. There is no building, and there is also no garbage, or whatever
that is on the right side of the road. It looks super clean here. In this scene, we can see the children
running away from the birds. That has been filmed from over here. Once again, we can see
the beautiful schoolhouse. Once again, we can see that there is
a forest right behind the schoolhouse. And what you can also see here is this
fence around those buildings, around the school house, and around the
church that hasn't been here in the past. Meanwhile, there is a beautiful
white fence over here. Here's a side view of the children
that are attacked by the birds. That has been filmed from over here. Here we can see the church once again, in the background,
it's still the same church. But also in this scene,
we can see the fence is different. There is a beautiful white fence. Meanwhile, this is one of those
iconic scenes from the movie. All of the birds are sitting
on the purchase, ready to attack. And that obviously has been
filmed from over here. You can see those purchase
are not here anymore. Instead, there is a garden. Meanwhile, but this should be the scene,
because we can see this corner of the building on the right side of the
picture, which looks exactly the same. And here's Melanie Daniels once again,
this time in close up. And this scene has been filmed from over here with the schoolhouse
in the background. Okay, and now let's focus on the
school teacher, Annie Hayworth. And now it gets interesting, because in the movie,
Annie Hayworth is living in a small house right next to the school house,
on the left side of the school house. And also, this house is not really here in reality, because this house
didn't even exist six years ago. Also, this house was just a set they built here, a set that used to be
the living house of Annie Hayworth. Today, there is no house, and there is also a huge forest
so that we don't see any of that. The reverse shot, however, was no fake. Here we can see Melanie Daniels standing
in front of this house over here. This house still exists
even 60 years later. And we can also see that this
is exactly the same house. If we take a look at those little
chimneys on the roof of the house. Here's Melanie Daniels talking
to Annie Hayworth right in front of her house, which was just a set in reality,
by the way, there really is a living house right next to the school house on the left
side, but it looks totally different. This is how it looks like here in reality. If you take a look at the terrace and stuff like that,
it looks totally different. The only thing that fits quite well
is this typical round mailbox. You can see here, right
in front of the house. Also, Annie Hayworth had one of those mailboxes, a beautiful red one,
right in front of her house. And this is the last
scene from this place. Melanie Daniels is sitting in her car,
ready to drive away. That has been filmed from over here. Once again, we can see the house
in the background is exactly the same. We can still see the corner
of the house in the background. And what we can also see is there are
a few more trees today, 60 years later, and they also built a fence here
that hasn't been here 60 years ago. Okay, any south obviously, remains a mystery,
but there is also another scene shot in this street that doesn't
really make sense in reality. If you remember the scene when
the kids run away from the birds. They come from the schoolhouse and they
run down this street over here. You can see in that scene that there is
water at the end of the street. So the kids are running towards the water,
but in reality there isn't any water. Yeah, and if you don't
believe me, here's proof. This is the scene as we
know it from the movie. The kids are running towards the water,
attacked by the birds. And this is how it looks here. In reality, there is no water. There is just a huge road in the background with a lot of cars,
but definitely no water. So what's the solution to the riddle? Of course, all of those scenes haven't
really been shot in this street. Well, of course they have been shot in this street, but only
from this direction. The reverse shot, however, has been
filmed at a totally different street. And that's where we are going now. Being of Taylor Street. To hasta still arrived. And this is it. This is the road where they filmed this
iconic scene from the movie The Birds. The kids are running towards the water,
and this is how it looks like in reality. What we can see is the bay
in the background is still there. Those hills in the background
are also still there. But there is one thing that has changed and it's the building that you can see
in the background in the movie scene. A blue building. This obviously used to be a restaurant. At least you can see that in some scenes. In the movie, there is a sign
that says restaurant on a website. I found this obviously was also
some kind of a supermarket. A supermarket with two floors in the past. I don't know if that's right. However, what I couldn't find out, unfortunately, is why this
building actually disappeared. It obviously was torn down,
but I don't know why. Meanwhile, you will find the parking space
at that place and also a little bay store. What I found out during my research. Obviously, Bodega Bay still
has a problem with fires. It's not just the Tides restaurant that
burned down within the past 60 years. Just a few years ago,
on exactly this road, you can see in the background,
another restaurant building burned down. So my first guess was that this could have been this building you can see
in the background in the movie scene. But no, it wasn't. It was a different building. What else do we see in this picture? The house on the left side, obviously, is a new house that hasn't
been here 60 years ago. It looks a bit different on the left side,
if you take a closer look. The house on the right side, however,
used to be here 60 years ago. You can still see that if
you compare the roof. And also this power pole on the right side is still the same like
in the movie The Birds. And if you take a look at the horizon, obviously in the past there used
to be a few more boats in this bay. This scene is also quite interesting. Here we can see a very old car in the movie The Birds,
and that has been filmed from over here. Today there is a modern SUV, but the area
around it still looks quite the same. We still can see those three
little houses on the left side. The only thing that has changed a little
bit, obviously on the right side in reality, there is some kind of a new
house or something like that, and also a hatch that hasn't
been here like that in the past. The children and Miss Daniels are trying
to hide in the car that has been filmed from over here, even though
it doesn't look like it. But if you take a very close look at the background, you will see there is
this small red wooden house in the background of the movie The Birds,
that you can still see today. Look at this. Looks a bit like those typical
red wooden Swedish houses. Who did actually invent
those small wooden houses? Was it the Americans or was it the Swedes? I don't know. Maybe that's the topic
for a different video. However, this wooden house is still
visible here in reality, even though there is another house
with a very fancy color right in front of it, and also a fence
and a few more houses around it. Once again, here's proof
how fake this scene is. Here we can see Melanie Daniels again
with this schoolhouse in the background. And if we take a look at the reality,
nope, there is no schoolhouse at all. This is just a boring residential area. And this is the last scene I want
to show you from this place. And also the last scene I
want to show you today. Here's another closer look at the restaurant or supermarket
that doesn't exist anymore. This is how it looks like in reality. Once again, we can see the house
on the right side still exists. And on the left side the area
looks a bit different. Seems like there has been some kind of a cabin or a wooden house or something
like that on the left in the past. Meanwhile, there are obviously a few
more houses than 60 years ago. Meanwhile, in reality, we finally can
see a boat in the background in the bay. And wait a minute, you see that on the
power pole and on the power lines. Birds. There are birds. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. So that was my shooting location
tour of The Birds in Bodega Bay. I really hope you liked it. Unfortunately, I couldn't show you all the places you can see
in the movie The Birds. There are a few more. For example, Mitch's house, which is a real existing place
unfortunately it's private property. There is a huge gate in front of it. I really tried it and you can't
see anything of the house. So yeah, unfortunately I
couldn't show this to you. There's also the house of the neighbors
that you can see in the movie. They also get killed by the birds. Also that house is private property, so yeah, unfortunately I
couldn't show you that. But I showed you the most famous places
of the movie so I hope you liked it. If you did, then please leave a thumbs up. You can also hit the subscribe button and ring the bell so you won't
miss any upcoming video. And if you'd like to support me and my
work then please check out my patreon. Or you can become a channel
member of my YouTube channel. Then you will get exclusive stuff. For example,
the addresses of all the shooting locations I showed you today
and new videos before everyone app. So you should definitely check that out. You might hear the noise right
in front of my hotel window. There are people in the pool. There is a pool right in front of my hotel
window and they are having fun. I really have to say the people
are super nice here. I really like this area. The longer my USA road trip
takes, it gets better. It started a bit mediocre in Los Angeles, but since I've been to San Francisco,
everything is super nice. The people are super friendly,
the landscapes are beautiful. The villages and towns I've been
to are super peaceful and friendly. I really liked it. Yeah, maybe I will go
to the pool as well now. And what could be the next
place I'm going to visit? Well, I will tell you in the next video so please subscribe and have a safe
journey and see you next time. Bye.
