The hospital where Maude is taken to the ER
"Go, and love some more."
While celebrating Maude's 80th birthday at her train car, she reveals to Harold that she's taken a pill and will be gone in a few hours. Harold summons help and in the ambulance he beseeches Maude not to die, telling her that he loves her. She replies, "That's wonderful, Harold! Go, and love some more." Arriving at the ER, Harold grows increasing frantic as Maude is delayed by bureaucracy at the admission desk. Finally, she is taken in for treatment; Harold gives her a quick kiss and she reaches out toward him as she is wheeled away. A montage follows of Harold waiting at the hospital through the night and into the dawn, intercut with scenes of him racing his hearse down the highway. Finally, a doctor appears and gives Harold the bad news.
The hospital that was used for these shots is the Mills-Peninsula Medical Center on Trousdale Drive in Burlingame. While the hospital complex is still there, Terry and I were frustrated to discover that the building used for the movie scenes was considered seismically unfit, and demolished a mere 9 months or so before our visit. The site of the building is now a very freshly paved surface parking lot. More than anything else that happened during the Project, this drove home the point that time was of the essence in documenting these locations.
Here's the view from Harold's waiting room as dawn breaks over Burlingame, and the same view from the parking lot that now occupies the same spot:
[Next page: The cliff where Harold drives his car off the edge]