California: Lost and found in Mendocino
The lost coast. That's what they call the bays and cliffs and breakers just a little way north of the sand between my toes. It sounds like a Hollywood blockbuster: probably starring Humphrey Bogart, directed by Howard Hawks in the 40s; recreated by Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg 30 years later; re-imagined for today's multiplexes by Johnny Depp and someone else.
Close, but no mynah. This is film-noir territory: Bodega Bay, just an hour's drive north of San Francisco, is nest of The Birds , made by Alfred Hitchcock in 1963. On a late-autumn early morning, there is not another soul for miles, miles of white curving sand and waves and wetlands. Just me and the birds.
Across the Golden Gate, clear of the chichi charm of Sausalito and the surburban sprawl of the Sans Rafael and Anselmo, California's mythic Highway 1 hugs the cliffs and gullies and dips and rises of the coast.
On the sea side are dramatic cliffs, sandy beaches, coves and surf breaks. Few swim: it's too darn cold.
On the road side, the occasional farmhouse, even more occasional store or gas station, the first shoots of what will - a few miles north - grow into the giant redwood forests.
These days, the rich play in Bodega Bay, its spas and inns and restaurants. Protected from the Pacific swells, its little harbour is home to a few yachts; outside town, the kombis and caravans hint that less well-heeled surfers and windsurfers get a break here, too.
The locals don't mind that many of their visitors come because they've been horror-fied by Hitchcock, frisson-ated by that classic scene of Tippi Hedren driving her Aston Martin down a winding road into an idyllic seaside village where feathered, squawking terror will perch on every playground and pier.
"It's not the way it is," insists Chris Wedel, manager of the Inn at the Tides restaurant.
"That road is about five miles north of here and it doesn't lead into the village at all. And the schoolhouse is a little way up the road and back from the beach, not where it seems to be in the movie.
Lost Coast California - News
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Travel: California: Lost and found in Mendocino: The lost coast. That's what they call the bays a... 
California: Lost and found in Mendocino: The lost coast. That's what they call the bays and cliffs and breakers ... 
California: Lost and found in Mendocino: The lost coast. That's what they call the bays and cliffs and breakers ... 
California: Lost and found in Mendocino: The lost coast. That's what they call the bays and cliffs and breakers ... 
California: Lost and found in Mendocino: The lost coast. That's what they call the bays and cliffs and breakers ... 