Bodega Bay Port Rumyantsev |
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Census-designated place | |
Bodega Bay in 2008, seen from across the harbor
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Location in Sonoma County and the state of California |
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Location in the United States | |
Coordinates: 38°19′28″N 123°2′19″W / 38.32444°N 123.03861°WCoordinates: 38°19′28″N 123°2′19″W / 38.32444°N 123.03861°W | |
Country | United States |
State | California |
County | Sonoma |
Area | |
• Total | 12.524 sq mi (32.436 km2) |
• Land | 8.345 sq mi (21.613 km2) |
• Water | 4.179 sq mi (10.823 km2) 33.37% |
Elevation | 56 ft (17 m) |
Population (April 1, 2010) | |
• Total | 1,077 |
• Density | 86/sq mi (33/km2) |
Time zone | Pacific (UTC−8) |
• Summer (DST) | PDT (UTC−7) |
ZIP code | 94923 |
Area code | 707 |
FIPS code | 06-07260 |
GNIS feature IDs | 1658093, 2407872 |
Bodega Bay is a town and census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 1,077 at the 2010 census. The town, located along State Route 1, is on the eastern side of Bodega Harbor, an inlet of Bodega Bay on the Pacific coast.
Bodega Bay is the site of the first Russian structures built in California, which were built in 1809 by Commerce Counseller Ivan Alexandrovich Kuskov of the Russian-American Company in the lead-up to the establishment of Fort Ross. For the Russians, the settlement in Bodega Bay was called Port Rumyantsev, named 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 location scenes in the Alfred Hitchcock-directed film The Birds (1963) were filmed in Bodega Bay. The town markets itself with the film in many ways, including its Birds-themed visitors' center. The location was also featured in the cult horror movie Puppet Master (1989).
PG+E wanted to build a nuclear power plant on Bodega Head in the 1960s, but the plans were shut down after large protest (the first for environmental reasons) and the fault, which they found while they were digging the hole for the first reactor. The hole filled with water and became known as "The Hole in the Head".
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 12.5 square miles (32 km2), 8.3 square miles (21 km2) of it is land, and 4.2 square miles (11 km2) of it (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.