Harbor-UCLA is funded by the County of Los Angeles, and serves as the Level I Trauma Center for the South Bay area. Army's Port of Embarkation Hospital, which was a receiving point for the wounded returned from the Pacific theater during World War II. Situated on a tract of 80 acres (0.32 km2), it had an administration building and a large number of barracks wards arranged under the cottage system
. In February 1946, the county purchased the facility from the Federal Government in order to decentralize the activities of the Los Angeles County General Hospital, one of the largest institutions of its kind in the world, and founded a branch hospital to serve the Harbor and Long Beach. The Los Angeles County Harbor General Hospital began its affiliation with UCLA School of Medicine in 1951. Construction of the present eight-story hospital building was completed in 1962 on the easterly portion of the grounds, at Carson Street and Vermont Avenue, replacing a number of the wooden barracks and cottages comprising Harbor General. Affiliation with the UCLA School of Dentistry was established in 1972. In 1978, the name of the hospital was changed to Los Angeles County Harbor–UCLA Medical Center in order to draw attention to its working relationship with the UCLA School of Medicine. The main building was portrayed as Rampart General Hospital in the popular TV series Emergency! Harbor–UCLA Medical Center is home of the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (also known as LA BioMed), which is one of the largest independent, not-for-profit biomedical research institutes in the United States. Originally known as Harbor-UCLA Research and Education Institute (REI), the LA BioMed has been conducting biomedical research, training young scientists and providing community services, including childhood immunization, nutrition assistance and anti-gang violence programs over the past 50 years.
