North Hollywood Medical Center | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | 12629 Riverside Drive, North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States |
Services | |
Beds | 160 |
History | |
Opened | 1952 |
Closed | 1998 |
Demolished | 2011 |
Links | |
Lists | Hospitals in California |
North Hollywood Medical Center (Medical Center of North Hollywood) was a hospital, operating from 1952 to 1998, in the community of North Hollywood, a district in the San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles.
The hospital is famed as the filming location, from 2001 to 2008, of the multiple award-winning hospital comedy television show Scrubs .
Located at 12629 Riverside Drive, the building was demolished in mid-2011. [1] In February 2013, IMT Residential opened a new apartment complex on the site. [2]
North Hollywood Medical Center was opened in 1952 as "Valley Doctors Hospital", a small private hospital with 160 beds and an emergency room. [3]
The hospital was sold to Hyatt Medical and re-opened in 1973 as "Riverside Hospital", reflecting its location on Riverside Drive and beside the Los Angeles River, on the south bank of its concrete channel.
In 1976, foreshadowing its future use as a permanent film set, Riverside Hospital was used to film scenes of the original TV movie of the "Having Babies" movie and series franchise.
The name was changed to "Medical Center of North Hollywood" following misplaced negative publicity caused in late 1981 when nurse Robert Diaz was charged with murdering 12 hospital patients in unrelated hospitals in Riverside County, California. [4] [5]
In 1997, North Hollywood Medical Center teamed with the USC University Hospital to operate a Family Practice Residency Program at North Hollywood. [3] The relationship was facilitated by the fact that both hospitals were then owned by Tenet Healthcare. [3]
Citing reduced revenue streams, Tenet Healthcare closed North Hollywood Medical Center in August 1998. [6]
The building was the filming location of the NBC/ABC sitcom Scrubs for the first eight seasons (2001 through 2009) of the show, where it was called Sacred Heart Hospital.
The building required extensive reconstruction before it could be used as the Scrubs location. The reconstruction included production offices and dressing rooms on the third floor.
The series' lead actor, Zach Braff, commented on DVD audio commentary that the hospital still received patients in the lobby asking for medical advice, believing the hospital was still running due to the ambulances parked as props outside. On another DVD commentary, Sarah Chalke recalled having a man and his wife show up looking for medical help. She remembered that the man's arm was bloody and there was nothing anybody could do except direct the couple to a real hospital.
Season 9 was set in a new medical school facility, for which a stage set at Culver Studios was used. In the show, Sacred Heart Hospital was said to have been torn down and re-built on the "Winston University" campus.
Other than being used in Scrubs, the building was featured repeatedly as the hospital in the 2001 film The One , starring Jet Li. [7] The center was used to film an advertisement for Communities In Schools. It also served as the filming location of the hospital-drama Diagnosis X , which featured doctors acting out their most unusual cases.
The hospital has also been used in the following:
The building was scheduled to be demolished in 2011. On July 19, 2011, a fire was reported during the demolition of the building and quickly extinguished by the Los Angeles fire department. Welders removing part of the roof inadvertently dropped hot steel scraps down an elevator shaft, where debris caught fire. According to fire officials, there were no injuries, and no monetary loss as the building was already under demolition. [1]
Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County at its center, and Orange County to the southeast. The Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside combined statistical area (CSA) covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km2), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. The contiguous urban area is 2,281 square miles (5,910 km2), whereas the remainder mostly consists of mountain and desert areas. With an estimated population of over 18.3 million, it is the second-largest metropolitan area in the country, behind New York, as well as one of the largest megacities in the world.
Van Nuys is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.
The 1994 Northridge earthquake affected the Los Angeles area of California on January 17, 1994, at 04:30:55 PST. The epicenter of the moment magnitude 6.7 blind thrust earthquake was beneath the San Fernando Valley. Lasting approximately 8 seconds and achieving the largest peak ground acceleration of over 1.7 g, it was the largest earthquake in the area since 1971. Shaking was felt as far away as San Diego, Turlock, Las Vegas, Richfield, Phoenix, and Ensenada. Fifty-seven people died and more than 9,000 were injured. In addition, property damage was estimated to be $13–50 billion, making it among the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history.
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Situated northwards of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the incorporated cities of Burbank, Calabasas, Glendale, Hidden Hills and San Fernando, plus several unincorporated areas. The valley is the home of Warner Bros. Studios, Walt Disney Studios, and the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park.
Chinatown is a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles, California, that became a commercial center for Chinese and other Asian businesses in Central Los Angeles in 1938. The area includes restaurants, shops, and art galleries, but also has a residential neighborhood with a low-income, aging population of about 7,800 residents.
West Hills is a neighborhood in the western San Fernando Valley region of the city of Los Angeles, California. It is bordered by mountain ranges to the west and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Chatsworth to the north, Canoga Park to the east, and Woodland Hills to the south.
Warner Center is a master-planned neighborhood and business district development in the Canoga Park and Woodland Hills neighborhoods of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California.
The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. Founded in 1885, it is the second oldest medical school in California after the UCSF School of Medicine.
Francisco Bravo Medical Magnet High School is a magnet public high school in the Los Angeles Unified School District with a focus on serving students who plan to study in the healthcare field. It is located near the LAC+USC Medical Center, in the Lincoln Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States.
Chavez Ravine is a shallow canyon in Los Angeles, California. It sits in a large promontory of hills north of downtown Los Angeles, next to Major League Baseball's Dodger Stadium. Chavez Ravine was named for a 19th-century Los Angeles councilman who had originally purchased the land in the Elysian Park area.
Walter Reed Middle School is in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. Originally called North Hollywood Junior High School, it was renamed in honor of U.S. Army Major Walter Reed.
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Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is a 570-bed public teaching hospital located at 1000 West Carson Street in West Carson, an unincorporated area within Los Angeles County, California. The hospital is owned by Los Angeles County and operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, while doctors are faculty of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, who oversee the medical residents being trained at the facility.
Olive View–UCLA Medical Center is a hospital, funded by Los Angeles County, located in the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is one of the primary healthcare delivery systems in the north San Fernando Valley, serving the area's large working-class population. Olive View is also the closest county hospital serving the Antelope Valley after High Desert Hospital was converted to an urgent care clinic in 2003.
Riverside Drive is a northeast–southwest road connecting the San Fernando Valley and the Cypress Park neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles. It follows the course of the Los Angeles River.
The Keck Hospital of USC, formerly USC University Hospital, is a private 401–licensed bed teaching hospital of the University of Southern California (USC). The hospital is part of the USC Keck School of Medicine, it is located on the USC Health Sciences Campus, which is adjacent to the Los Angeles General Medical Center, east of Downtown Los Angeles.
The Queen of Angels Hospital was a private hospital complex located at 2301 Bellevue Avenue in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. The 404-bed hospital was founded in 1926 by the Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart and built by architect Albert C. Martin, Sr. The hospital served the local community and ran a nursing school. After its closure, the hospital served as a film set for the local film and television industry. The property was eventually sold to the Assembly of God church and is now known as the Dream Center.
Torney General Hospital was a US Army Hospital in Palm Springs, California, in Riverside County used during World War II. Parts of Torney General Hospital are now the Desert Regional Medical Center.
St. Luke Medical Center is an abandoned 165-bed hospital located in the northeastern region of Pasadena, California. Upon opening in 1933, the hospital was one of only 2 hospitals to serve the city of Pasadena for nearly 70 years, in tandem with Huntington Hospital on the western side of the city. St Luke ultimately closed in 2002 due to financial issues stemming from the hospital's parent company Tenet Healthcare. The hospital has since become a famous location for filming as it has appeared in various music videos, TV shows, and movies over the years.