Olive View Hospital - Sylmar CA In 1920, a tuberculosis sanitarium was established in Sylmar, and was soon acclaimed to be one of the best such hospitals in the United States. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) helped with landscaping, receiving $7,657 in federal funds. 33 men were employed during the 4 months it took to do the work.
With tuberculosis contained, the hospital complex was retooled as an acute care hospital in 1962, in which the first successful open heart surgery in the San Fernando Valley was performed. Many of the buildings and landscaping of Olive View Hospital were destroyed in the San Fernando Earthquake of 1971.