Central Receiving Hospital, founded in 1868, was Los Angeles' first public hospital providing emergency care and paramedic services to the people of the city for more than a century. Throughout its years in operation, the hospital has had five homes: the first Central Receiving Hospital opened at Chávez Ravine (in 1868) as a hospice for victims of pestilence, especially smallpox, but eventually admitted victims of other contagious diseases as well. In the 1880s it transferred to the back of the downtown Central Police Station and served as a two-room emergency first-aid unit. In 1896, a "new" Central Police Station and Receiving Hospital (now in its third location) opened on the south side of 1st Street, between Broadway and Hill streets. In 1927 the hospital was transferred once again, this time a few miles away, relocating on the third floor of the Georgia Street Police Station, where it served as the city's central emergency hospital for 30 years and housed the Police Department unit for approximately 70 years. The three-story brick-faced structure was located at 1337 Georgia Street. And finally in 1957, Central Receiving Hospital opened for a fifth, and last time, in a new location on west 6th Street and Loma Drive at a cost of $1.5 million. In its 102 years of operation, the most famous patient ever treated at Central Receiving Hospital was Robert F. Kennedy, who arrived by ambulance in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 after being shot at the nearby Ambassador Hotel - where he had just won the California presidential primary. When Kennedy arrived at the hospital he was near death, but doctors were able to obtain a good heartbeat and after about 30 minutes, was transferred to Good Samaritan Hospital for surgery. Tragically, despite extensive neurosurgery, Robert F. Kennedy succumbed to his gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital the following morning, June 6, 1968 at 1:44 am, nearly 26 hours after the shooting. Central Receiving Hospital closed its doors to the public in 1970, though the Police Department continued to use the building offering physical and psychological exams to police officers and firefighters. The building was eventually demolished (in 2005) to make way for the Los Angeles Police Department's new $29-million Rampart Station. 'Finest city-operated hospital in the U.S.' is dedicated today. Standing at the doorway of the new Central Receiving Hospital are administrative officer Corydon T. Hill and Mrs. Vera Cooper, chief nurse. Photo dated: June 16, 1957. Architects are H.C. Chambers and Lester Hibbard.
Central Receiving Hospital (Los Angeles, Calif.) Hospitals--California--Los Angeles Lost architecture--California--Los Angeles Herald-Examiner Collection photographs Chambers, H. C.(Harold Coulson),1885-1971 Hibbard, Lester
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