General Hospital

Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
Address: 1983 Marengo St.
Date: Feb 2014
Website:  www.lacusc.org

  As you head north through Los Angeles on the I-5, just after the exit to the I-10 to San Bernadino, and as you continue north towards Sacramento, there is a familiar sight for soap opera fans.  Get into the right hand lane, roll down your windows and get your cameras ready.  Then as the traffic coming off of the I-10 merges with the I-5 point your cameras north-east and fire away.  This is how it worked for us, but if you are lucky enough to be stuck in a Los Angeles highway traffic jam then you may have plenty of time to view General Hospital.   
  General Hospital is currently the third longest running soap opera on television.  Only Guiding Light and As The World Turns have had more episodes, but both are no longer on the air.  General Hospital first aired in 1963 and recently celebrated 50 years.  The show takes place in the fictional town of Port Charles and never actually filmed inside of the hospital, (pictured above) but the hospital was featured in the opening credits.  In reality it is the LAC + USC Medical Center which is short for Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center.  The show is filmed at The Prospect Studios in the Los Feliz neighbourhood of LA.  Most of the characters on the show either work at General Hospital or have been a patient there for one reason or another.  They have given birth, emerged from comas, or recovered from numerous shootings, poisonings and car accidents.
  Even though the Medical Center is only seen in the opening credits, it has still been part of the show almost every weekday for the past few decades.  It is always fun to see the real world location.  On a previous trip to Los Angeles we also spotted actor Michael Easton in a North Hollywood Rite-Aid looking for help buying bottled water.  He played both John McBain and more recently Dr. Silas Clay on the show.  So always have your camera ready while you are in LA as there is either a television star or a filming location just up ahead.

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Map of Our World
General Hospital

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Post # 40