OLIVE VIEW HOSPITAL

BUILDING A GREAT MUSEUM FOR THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

In the first decade of the 20th century, the north eastern areas of the San Fernando Valley were widely believed to have the best climate, and healthiest air, in America. For that reason, Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini and her nuns established a boarding school in northern Burbank as a place of refuge for girls cramped into the dank sweatshops of the eastern seaboard. 

In 1920, a tuberculosis sanitarium was establhed in Sylmar, and was soon acclaimed to be one of the best such hospitals in the United States. During World War II Olive View was quietly prepared to received what was possibly thousands of wounded soldiers expected from an invasion of the mainland of Japan. This was true also of Birmingham Hospital (now Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa.) 

 The surgical wing of Olive View Hospital c. 1940 - Historic postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2014.  (click on images to enlarge them.)

 A few of the Women's Wards: Olive View Hospital c. 1940 - Historic postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2014. 

With tuberculosis contained, the hospital complex was retooled as an acute care hospital in 1962, in which the first successful open heart surgery was performed in the San Fernando Valley. Many of the buildings and landscaping of Olive View Hospital were destroyed in the San Fernando Earthquake of 1971.

THE GREAT MICKEY ROONEY DIES IN NORTH HOLLYWOOD

BUILDING A GREAT MUSEUM FOR THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

Long before he began elementary school, Mickey Rooney was on the stage with his parents in vaudeville. With the exception of a short stint in the US Army during world War II, Mickey Rooney worked as a regular performer in films, television and in the theatre. Mickey was a lifelong resident of the San Fernando Valley. He died on April 6th. 

MICKEY ROONEY    1920 - 2014

Cover or program for Mickey Rooney in "Girl Crazy" - Library of San Fernando Valley Entertainment Industry History - Museum of the San Fernando Valley

THE ROBERT MORTON ORGAN COMPANY OF VAN NUYS

 CHERISHING OUR VALLEY             2013

In the 1920s into the 1930s, the Robert Morton Organ Company in Van Nuys was one of the largest organ manufacturers in America. Silent movies were never "silent" and the organ was a major element in the cinema. Some Morton theater pipe organs are still in service today.

 Photocopy of the Robert Morton Organ factory in Van Nuys - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Tammy Bain of Littleton, Colorado 2013. (click on images to enlarge them.)
The photo was taken in 1920.

 Workers in front of the Morton Organ factory in Van Nuys, California. Members of the metal pipe and wooden pipe maker shops.  Photocopy of the Robert Morton Organ factory in Van Nuys - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Tammy Bain of Littleton, Colorado 2013. (See detail below).

 Archibald D. March Jr. Robert Morgan Organ Company dated 1950.  Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Tammy Bain of Littleton, Colorado 2013.

Archibald D. March Jr. Robert Morgan Organ Company dated 1950.  Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Tammy Bain of Littleton, Colorado 2013.

Archibald D. March Jr. Robert Morgan Organ Company dated 1950.  Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Tammy Bain of Littleton, Colorado 2013.

Father and son, Archibald D. March Sr. and Jr. - Robert Morgan Organ Company dated 1950.  Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Tammy Bain of Littleton, Colorado 2013.

OLIVE VIEW SANITARIUM IN SYLMAR

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY      2012

Little or nothing remains of the once strategic Olive View Sanitarium in Sylmar. Most of the structures of the abandoned tuberculosis hospital were destroyed by fire in 1962, and the remainder wiped out in the Sayre Fire years later.

Olive View Sanitarium in Olive View, California; Historic postcard gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2012.  (click on image to enlarge)

It is hard to imagine that Americans with tuberculosis, when this hospital was built in the 1920s, were required by law to enter sanitariums.  Sylmar was once world famous for its olive trees and healthful air.