West Los Angeles VA Medical Center


West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs Medical Center is a hospital that serves veterans in an unincorporated federal land area surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, California. It was built in 1977, replacing the 1927 Wadsworth Hospital and previous 1887 Veterans Home. It is a referral center for the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. The center is the largest facility in the VA health care system.

History

The medical facility, which sits on land donated by Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker in 1887, was previously known as the Sawtelle Veterans Home. This became the Wadsworth Hospital in 1927 and was rebuilt in 1977 into the present modern building.
In 2011 a group of homeless veterans sued the center, claiming that the VA was renting land in the center for commercial gain and ignoring the needs of homeless veterans for housing. In 2015, as part of the settlement of the 2011 lawsuit, the Department of Veterans Affairs released a draft master plan for the future of the campus.
In 2016, the Department of Veterans Affairs announced a plan to add 1200 units of housing for homeless veterans to the hospital campus.
The LA Metro Purple Line is being extended from Koreatown's Wilshire/Western station to the Westwood/VA Hospital station as part of the Purple Line Extension. This station will be located north of the Hospital between Bonsall Ave, Wilshire Blvd and I-405. The station will open in 2027 as part of Phase 3 of the extension, along with Westwood/UCLA station.