By Melody Hanatani
Daily Press Staff Writer

MID-CITY — Following eight decades of serving the community in times of crisis and despair, it was a decidedly different scene on 16th Street Sunday, when the Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center served as party central.

Hospital officials staged a massive birthday bash, closing off the street between Wilshire Boulevard and Arizona Avenue to traffic for more than four hours, in celebration of providing health services to the community for 80 years.

Hundreds of former and current patients, doctors and other UCLA affiliates flocked to the festival, where they were offered free food and drinks, medical services, music, games and other activities.

“We’re absolutely overwhelmed by the local turnout,” said Posie Carpenter, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center’s chief administrative officer. “We have people from all over the Westside and they all seem to be having a fabulous time.”

As they listened to the sounds of “Malpractice,” a Santa Monica-UCLA physician rock band, partygoers were free to take advantage of a bevy of free services. Parts of Arizona Avenue and 16th Street were lined with booths manned by volunteer vendors including Costco, Edible Arrangements, Krispy Kreme and Merle Norman Cosmetics — one of the medical center’s largest benefactors, which performed free makeovers.

Many booths were affiliated with the university such as the UCLA Pain Management Center, while others were staffed with local officials such as the Santa Monica Police and Fire departments.

Vendor Taco Real served some 4,000 tacos, running out less than an hour after the event began. Taco Real had been serving up plates to special events staff hours before the celebration began.

Owner George Vasquez volunteered his Mexican cuisine business as a way to thank the hospital, which he credits for saving his wife’s life. Vasquez’s wife was hospitalized in August when she underwent surgery to remove a spine tumor.

“It was a total change in our lives from her not being able to walk to now being healthy,” Vasquez said. “From the beginning to the end, the care of the hospital was great.”

Some booths were staffed with non-profit organizations that found the event to be a good opportunity to inform the public of its mission.

The Santa Monica Family YMCA handed out brochures on the many health activities it offers. Member Services Director Bill Randle said YMCA’s theme of dealing with quality of life issues coincides with the medical center’s mission to heal the public.

The YMCA also gave one lucky family a free three-month trial membership in a drawing.

The event was popular among families who brought their children and grandchildren to participate in youth activities that included a teddy bear clinic and arts and crafts.

Patricia Jardack of Santa Monica came with her husband and their son, Julian. Jardack works as a nutritionist in clinical research at UCLA’s main campus in Westwood. As part of her job, Jardack said she visits the Santa Monica center almost every day.

“It’s amazing the medical center has been around for such a long time,” Jardack said, as she watched her young son pet a dog from the hospital’s Pet Therapy Program.

THE DAWN OF AN ERA

The hospital on Sunday also honored five former Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center babies who were born in the hospital in 1926 and 1927, presenting them with a birthday cake.

William Harvey, who was born in the hospital on Nov. 2, 1926, currently resides in the Pacific Palisades. He grew up in West Los Angeles, attended University High School and fought in the Pacific during World War II. He then went on to work at Southern California Edison for 35 years. He got married around 1948, raised a daughter, and now has four grandchildren. His wife passed away three months before their 50th anniversary.

“It’s quite a surprise to me,” Harvey said. “I didn’t expect anything like this.”

Art Verge was born in the medical center on Aug. 2, 1927. He grew up in Santa Monica and currently teaches history and speech at Santa Monica College.

Verge taught for eight years at John Adams Junior High School and has taught at SMC for 35 years.

He joined the Navy in 1945 after his parents passed away while still a student at St. Monica’s High School.

Verge and his wife Margie had six children, all of whom were raised in Santa Monica, and the couple now has seven grandchildren. Verge said he is still a loyal patient of Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

“This is a celebration that is so much a part of Santa Monica,” Verge said. “I have a lifelong appreciation for a wonderful institution.”

Reflecting on the past, looking to the future.

Physicians Dr. William S. Mortensen and Dr. August B. Hromadka opened the hospital on July 26, 1926, after they mortgaged their own property and borrowed $50,000 to build the first medical center in Santa Monica.

The original hospital was a three-story building with 60 beds.

In 1942, the two physicians gave the hospital to the Lutheran Hospital Society of Southern California, where it remained until 1988, when it became part of the non-profit organization, UniHealth America, according to Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center spokesman Ted Braun.

In 1995, UCLA acquired the hospital following the Northridge Earthquake.

“UCLA wanted to establish more community presence and make more services accessible,” Braun said.

Since 1926, the community has seen the medical center expand as it added more buildings and services. In 1943, the hospital became the first to contract emergency services to the city of Los Angeles, Braun said. The hospital was also the first to open a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Santa Monica.

Currently, there are about 1,000 physicians on staff at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center.

Changes are in store for the medical center. At the end of this year, the name will change to Santa Monica-UCLA and Orthopaedic Hospital. The Orthopaedic Hospital officially joined the center about a year ago.

“The theme of this event is “Building on a Caring Tradition” and we just think it’s very apt because Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center has had a long service to the Santa Monica community,” Carpenter said.

New buildings, part of a $295 million project, will begin to come online next spring.

“We will continue to serve the local community,” Carpenter said of the future. “We will continue to build on that community tradition and be on the cutting edge of primary and secondary level of patient care.”