Wandering Aimlessly

There's this semi-decrepit building on Riverside Drive I pass on my way to and from work every day. Oftentimes at night, they're shining bright lights at it. It sort of looked like some kind of... rehabilitation center, maybe, or a nursing home that they were trying to refurbish. The first time I saw the lights, I thought maybe they were filming a commercial or doing a photo shoot there, but I never saw anyone outside, ever. So then I thought maybe they had repainted it and the lights were helping the paint dry. Or something. I don't know! I really thought it was an old building being fixed up to house some kind of medical care facility.

I've been watching a lot of "Scrubs" lately. It's such a great show. And I know I've been brainwashed by it because yesterday, when I went to visit a friend in the hospital after her appendix burst, I kept thinking to myself how much it looked like Sacred Heart. But that's beside the point, really. Today I finished watching Season One and started in on the extra features. The first thing they show in the mini documentary is a building that looks very much like that one I drive by. The very one I've wondered about countless times over the last few months on my way home from work. Then someone on the documentary says something about how they film in an actual old hospital that was shut down seven years ago, previously the North Hollywood Hospital.

After a year and a half, I still must not be in that Hollywood mentality of everything is a potential film set.

Yes, that run down building on Riverside Drive was North Hollywood Hospital. The lights I see while I drive home from work? That's because they're filming "Scrubs" in there. They must film the outside shots on the backside of the building, because nothing ever made me think Hey! That building looks familiar! But now that I know what it is, I can definitely tell.

How cool is that?