Linda Vista Community Hospital, originally called the Santa Fe Railroad Hospital and Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital, is a former hospital at 610-30 South St. Louis Street in Los Angeles, California, United States, in the Boyle Heights neighborhood. The hospital was built for railroad employees and was one of four employee hospitals run by the railroad Santa Fe Employees Hospital Association. The property was purchased for $5,500 and the hospital was constructed at a cost of $147,000.
After its closure, the hospital became a popular filming location for horror-themed productions, including films, TV shows, and music videos. It has also become the subject of several paranormal investigations. It is currently senior apartments.
History
The hospital opened to great fanfare in 1904 and even had its own Jersey cows, chickens, and a garden to provide patients with the freshest milk, butter, eggs, poultry and vegetables. This original Moorish-style hospital building designed by Charles Whittlesey, known as the Santa Fe Coast Lines Hospital, was razed and rebuilt in 1924 in the current Mission Revival Style structure. In 1989 it was renamed the Linda Vista Community Hospital.
Decline and closure
By the late 1970s, the railroad hospital association facilities were experiencing declining use, as more railroad workers began to use conventional medical-insurance policies. The area surrounding the hospital also became a less-affluent area and hospital funding was affected.The Santa Fe Railroad sold the 150-bed hospital to a managed healthcare company in 1980. According to a California Health Law News report, when Linda Vista tried to reduce operational expenses in response, the hospital was blamed for an increase in facility death rates. During that time, the hospital was regularly treating a fair number of gunshot wounds and stabbings from the local neighborhoods, which affected its mortality statistics. An increase in uninsured and under-insured patients forced the hospital to close its emergency services department in 1989. The quality of care at Linda Vista Community Hospital continued to decline as doctors moved to other hospitals. In 1991, the hospital ceased operations.
Post-closure
In the decades since its closure, it has become the center of several paranormal investigations; the most notable investigation was initiated by Ghost Adventures, where the crew stayed a full night in the hospital. Since that time, it has been used primarily as a filming location. In January 2006, the hospital was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In 2011, the 4.2-acre Linda Vista Hospital complex was purchased by AMCAL Multi-Housing Inc. The structures on the historic registry, the main hospital and former nurses dormitory, were renovated into the Linda Vista Senior Apartments and now provide a total of 97 apartments for fixed-income seniors plus a medical facility.
As a filming location
Notable works shot at Linda Vista include the following:
- Films
- To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
- In the Line of Fire (1992)
- Seven (1995)
- Outbreak (1995)
- Suicide Kings (1997)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Conspiracy Theory (1997)
- Children of the Corn 666: Isaac's Return (1999)
- End of Days (1999)
- The Cell (2000)
- Pearl Harbor (2001)
- The Longest Yard (2005)
- Boo (2005)
- Day of the Dead 2: Contagium (2005)
- Room 6 (2006)
- The Gene Generation (2007)
- Deadgirl (2008)
- Zombie Strippers (2008)
- The Lords of Salem (2012)
- Killjoy Goes to Hell (2012)
- Rift (2012)
- Insidious Chapter 2 (2013)
- Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015)
- Television programs
- The pilot episode of ER
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures
- Dexter (Season 1, Episode 4: "Let's Give the Boy a Hand")
- True Blood (Season 5) in the episode "Let's Boot and Rally"
- Criminal Minds (Season 7) in the episode "Heathridge Manor"
- L.A. 7 (the Art College Bradley works at in the episode "Working"
- Music videos
- The Duran Duran song "Falling Down"
- The Garbage song "Bleed Like Me"
- The Used song "Blood on My Hands"
- The Avenged Sevenfold song "Nightmare"
- The In This Moment song "Adrenalize"
- The Rise Against song "Hero of War"
- The We Are the In Crowd song "Rumor Mill" on the album Best Intentions
- The Foo Fighters song "Best of You"
- The Hollywood Undead song "We Are"
- The Otep song "Apex Predator"
See also
- Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments on the East and Northeast Sides
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Los Angeles, California
References
- "AMCAL California Bond Application request, #11-159"
- "Boyle Heights’ haunted hospital to be turned into senior housing, Dec 22,2011"
- "Calif Health Law News - California’s Vanishing Community Hospital: An Endangered Institution"
External links
Media related to Linda Vista Community Hospital at Wikimedia Commons
- Linda Vista Senior website
