Spooky school from 'The Birds' to open for tours

The old Potter School, still capable of invoking goosebumps because of its cinematic association with Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” will open to the public for two days of tours in May and September.

Mary Leah Taylor, whose parents bought the dilapidated landmark in the 1960s and who has lived there herself off and on since 1970, will chronicle the history of the school, talk about filming of the 1963 classic that made the school infamous and offer her own personal brushes with ghosts within its walls.

Taylor on rare occasions opens the doors for Birds-related events and fund-raisers. The tours, slated for May 24 and Sept. 6, will benefit the Sebastopol Community Center.

Visitors will be able to see the downstairs classroom used in the movie and her own living room upstairs that for years served as a community hall for the small town of Bodega, just inland from Bodega Bay.

The school figured prominently in one of “The Bird’s” most memorable scenes, when a flock attacked schoolchildren on the playground, forcing them to flee in terror.

The building was a school from 1873 to 1961, after which it was boarded up and condemned. Taylor’s parents bought it in 1966 and restored it into a home and art gallery. Taylor at one time also ran a cafe and gift shop in the school.

There will be three tours each day at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. They can be purchased online at seb.org or by calling 823-1511.

You can reach Staff Writer Meg McConahey at meg.mcconahey@pressdemocrat.com or 521-5204. On Twitter @MegMcConahey.