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.

CHERISHING OUR VALLEY                            2013

Earlier on this blog, I wrote a little about the Olive View Sanitarium in Sylmar, California. Here's a picture of the complex before it was destroyed by fire in the 1950s. This postcard gives us a good idea of just how large the site was. Rumor has it that the facility was considered as part of the U.S. military's plan to house allied casualties from the planned invasion of Japan during the Second World War.

Olive View Sanatorium Sylmar -  postcard - gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2013.   (click on image to enlarge it.)

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.

SYLMAR IN THE MID 1940s

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY    2011
Carmela DeRose shares with The Museum Community these interesting insights of San Fernando Valley history.

 Rural Sylmar in the 1940s. Collection of Carmela DeRose.  (click on image to enlarge) Carmela states, "I believe the shot of the horses were in Sylmar, near Foothill and Yarnell, where the Juvenile

Hall is now, was taken in the late 40s. The land belonged to my Uncle Sam De Rose, and he sold it."

Yearbook cover from the Recuerdos 1956 yearbook - Collection of Carmela DeRose. Saint Ferdinand's High School in Mission Hills.

CASCADES INTO THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

DISCOVERING OUR VALLEY    2011

It's February in the San Fernando Valley and the ornamental plum tree in front of our Tarzana home is in a snow storm of white blossoms. Canadian geese are honking toward Pierce College with rush hour determination and an even louder flock of red-headed parrots reminds us that the San Fernando Valley is on the same latitude as Cairo, Egypt.
Here's an historic postcard, a gift to your Museum from Gary Fredburg, that should remind us all, that despite our recent rains, our water migrates to the Valley from far away and deserves our gratitude and respect. The Los Angeles aqueduct originates from the snow packs of the Sierras and enters the San Fernando Valley near our suburb of Sylmar. It cost a whopping $23 million dollars when it was completed in 1913.    Thanks Gary for you gift.

MUSEUM'S FOCUS ON CHILDREN

2010 THE YEAR OF VALLEY ADVENTURES

Joey the Clown - Sylmar - gift to the Archives of The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2010.

While The Museum of the San Fernando Valley does not have ambition to become a children's museum, we are very focused on providing services and inspiration to youth. If you have an interest in supporting our efforts for children, please contact your Museum soon.
1 (818) 347-9665

OLIVE GROVES IN SYLMAR

2010 The Year of Valley Adventures
Picking Olives at Sylmar, California - Historic postcard - Gift to The Museum of the San Fernando Valley from Gary Fredburg 2010 (click on image to enlarge)
This postcard mailed to Miss Sadie Gortner in McMinnville, Oregon on April 20, 1909 was a true penny-postcard. It bears a 1¢ green Benjamin Franklin stamp. The card, like many of its era was printed in Germany, ironic since Dr. Franklin made his living as a printer. It was published by the Newman Post Card Company in Los Angeles. "Th" writes to Miss Sadie, "Good morning and what will you have today."
By 1940 signs outside of Sylmar, California proclaimed that it was the world's largest producer of olives. Until very recent times olive trees lined San Fernando Road in that independent city in the San Fernando Valley.

THE WORLD'S LARGEST OLIVE MILL - IN THE SAN FERNANDO VALLEY

Historic Olive Oil Production in the San Fernando Valley
This morning, while I was visiting my allergy doctor Glenn Lawlor, we discussed the historical black walnut and olive orchards of the San Fernando Valley. Descendants of orchards planted in the 1880s-90s, still impact lives throughout the Valley especially where allergies are concerned. Dr. Lawlor mentioned that the world's largest olive mill once existed in Sylmar. Here's what I discovered about it.

The first Roman Catholic missionaries to settle in the San Fernando Valley were members of the Order of Friars Minor (OFM), better known as Franciscans. They had a strong tradition of planting gardens and orchards. Typically they carried bags of seeds, scattering them as they traveled. The beautiful European mustard flowers throughout California are an example of this practice.

Shortly after establishing the Mission San Fernando Rey, the Franciscan padres arranged for olive trees to be shipped north from Mexico. The Valley proved to be ideal for olive cultivation and the groundwork for an industry was born.
By the end of the next century American entrepreneurs began exploring the agricultural potential of the San Fernando Valley. Olive trees still thriving after a 100 years, convinced a group of Illinois businessmen that they could make a fortune raising olives. In 1890, they purchased 2,000 acres and went to work.

In 1910, an olive farmers agricultural cooperative, called the Los Angeles Olive Growers Association, was established. Chinese workers were brought in for cheap labor. The Association built the largest olive-processing mill in the world. At its peak, the mill produced 800 gallons of oil a day. The mill was located at the corner of San Fernando Road and Roxford Street. Two buildings from this industry made it into the 21st century.

Olive trees are today scattered around the San Fernando Valley. Since few of our residents take on the picking and curing of the fruit, they are chiefly recognized as the messy nemesis of gardeners. And, they send patients to Dr. Lawlor and his colleagues.

The San Fernando Valley deserves a great Museum of history and culture.