Out the door, Just in Time, Head Down the 405

Los Angeles, CA

USA

OK, so brace yourselves Scrubs fans...

Monday, after four good days in Hollywoodland (Disneyland, the Boulevarde, the Sign), Glenn, Harry and I decided it was time to make the pilgrimage to North Hollywood University Medical Center (aka Sacred Heart Hospital aka JD's workplace).

Step 1 Look up address on Wikipedia.
Step 2 Make 50-minute bus pilgrimage.
Step 3 Never trust Wikipedia again.

We arrived at what should have been 11699 Riverside Drive. It didn't exist. 11645 existed, as did 11701. Just nothing in between. So a couple of calls to a friend (thanks Kellie) and it transpired that we had the wrong address (how could Wiki be so wrong?) and a quick check of Google Earth confirmed the correct location.

So we hit it up: Jumped on a bus to take us further down the road, and jumped off with squeals of delight which probably ruined any chance we had of talking our way past security.

It turns out that what is the "front" of the hospital in the show is actually the back of the real hospital. And behind that is a causeway (like a massive open stormwater drain). So to see the set, we had to jump the fence from a service station into a big closed-off empty lot across the other side of the causeway. The now-slightly-suspicious security guard was by this stage tracking our every move (he even called for backup!) From our vantage point we spotted Coffeebucks, the main entrance to Sacred Heart (didn't have any time for any illicit white-boy dancing...) and of course Roofs A and B.

Next, we approached Mr Security to see if we could find out what was being filmed at the time - we did see a few Coffeebucks employees - but before we said anything at all, he replied "No". Fair enough.

So, pretty satisfied with a successful day, we headed further up Riverside Drive to grab a bus home. On the way, I noticed a sign on what appeared to be a very small nursing home that read "Gate D". It looked a lot like the ones on the hospital so we headed inside, and around the corner.

"Oh," I remarked. "That looks like maybe where they film the scenes in the par... OH GOD. OH MY GOD. OH SHIT. HOLY FRICK. DOUBLE FRICK."

Around yet another corner, there it was it in all its glory. JD's deck. That's right. We were standing on the quarter-acre. It was looking pretty dilapidated, and we worked out that the same area was used to film JD's house, the park(s) and various other outdoor scenes. There was no sign of the neighbours' houses (they must be filmed elsewhere) and the grass was astroturf.

I have stood on the very same deck from which Mandy Moore toppled, where Keith got Bacon-backed, and where on seeing an older gay gentleman drinking an Appletini JD pondered, "Since when do gay guys drink straight guy drinks".

My life is complete.

Photos (and maybe video) to follow... Check out the locations on my map.