page_title: Sawtelle, Los Angeles
section_title: Veterans Administration hospital, office buildings, and national cemetery
hierarchical_section_title: Sawtelle, Los Angeles / Unincorporated county area / Composition and boundaries / Veterans Administration hospital, office buildings, and national cemetery
caption_attribution_description: English: The Wilshire Federal Building — at 11000 Wilshire Boulevard in the unincorporated community of Sawtelle, in the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California. • The huge building is often mistakenly assumed to be in the Westwood district of the City of Los Angeles, but it's located just outside the city boundaries. • The Wilshire Federal Building is the most prominent symbol of federal power in the Los Angeles area, and is thus a popular site for protests against government policies. Credits Taken and uploaded on January 16, 2005 by user Coolcaesar. This is an image of a place or building that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States of America. Its reference number is 100000733
context_page_description: Sawtelle is a district in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California, partially within the West Los Angeles subregion, that may refer to a larger district that is part of the city of Los Angeles, a smaller unincorporated area of the County of Los Angeles that by definition is not part of the municipality of Los Angeles, or a combination of these, sometimes known as the Sawtelle area. The name "Sawtelle" has also been used to refer only to the Veterans Administration complex, including the modern hospital and north of Wilshire Boulevard, the former site of the historical Sawtelle Veterans Home and outbuildings. This area is on unincorporated land west of Interstate 405. The entire Sawtelle area includes portions of ZIP Codes 90049, 90064, and 90025 and all of ZIP Code 90073. The community was initially established in 1899 and named after a manager of the Pacific Land Company who initially was responsible for its development and promotion.
  The incorporated area of Sawtelle, which lies to the south of the unincorporated area, includes the Sawtelle neighborhood, a 1.82-square-mile district of the city of Los Angeles.
context_section_description: The grounds of the former Veterans Home, which was established in 1888, along with a cemetery and hospital for former soldiers and sailors, is also referred to as Sawtelle. This area, containing former hospital and apartment buildings and the historical veteran's home, and now converted to research and office space, is mostly north of Wilshire Boulevard. Since 1977, this area has formally included the Veterans Affairs (VA) Wadsworth Medical Center (now the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center), which is south of Wilshire Boulevard from the former veteran's home site (see illustration above). This major hospital serves as part of the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System.
  The veterans home and hospital areas are both located west of the modern Interstate 405 freeway (San Diego Freeway), which bisects this federal parcel of land. It was part of a controversial plan in the 1960s, in which the property was proposed to be exchanged for Hazard Park in Boyle Heights, which would become home to a new VA hospital. The plan was shelved after seven years because of heavy public opposition., and instead, the present West Los Angeles Medical Center was built as the new hospital, in 1977. 
   The Los Angeles National Cemetery, which is located east of Interstate 405, between Sepulveda Boulevard and Veteran Avenue, contains the remains of some 85,000 veterans and family members from the Mexican War to the present. The Wilshire Federal Building (photo at right, description below) is also east of the 405 freeway, immediately south of Wilshire Boulevard and the cemetery.
caption: The Wilshire Federal Building in unincorporated Sawtelle, California at 11000 Wilshire Boulevard. The building is often mistakenly assumed to be in Westwood, but it sits just outside City of Los Angeles territory.
exif: {}