California State Military
DepartmentCalifornia State Military
DepartmentBetween June 1943 and October 1944, the War Department acquired 32 parcels by fee totalling 77.81 acres. These parcels were either taken by direct purchase or condemnation from private owners. Three additional parcels, totalling .77 acres, were acquired by permit from the County of Los Angeles for the construction of culverts across what were then county roads. Thus, 78.58 acres was acquired by fee and permit for the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation Station Hospital.
The site was an off-post hospital facility
of the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation that was used to care for
Army personnel and their dependents. Improvements constructed
onsite
included approximately 80 buildings, utilities, and several precast
concrete and steel underground storage tanks. 3. The site was
declared surplus on 31 March 1946, with custody
assumed by the War Assets Administration on 30 September 1946.
Los Angeles County purchased the entire property for the sum of $48,271 on 23 June 1947 by Quitclaim Deed.
The medical buildings became Los Angeles
County Harbor General Hospital, and in 1946 the hospital was dedicated
to serve the indigent and the emergency medical care needs of
the county's exploding postwar population. In 1951, an affiliation
between Harbor General Hospital and the newly founded UCLA School
of Medicine was realized, predating by several years the opening
of the UCLA Medical Center on the Westwood campus. Financed by
a $15.4 million bond measure overwhelmingly passed by Los Angeles
County voters, construction of a new acute care facility was begun
in 1960 and completed in 1963 as a 553-bed hospital that in 1978
was renamed Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. A major addition to the
building was completed in 1994. Today, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
serves a catchment area of approximately 2 million citizens and
offers a full spectrum of tertiary care in all medical and surgical
specialties.
Source: US Army Corps of
Engineers