diff --git a/pkg/registry/generic/rest/response_checker.go b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/response_checker.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9213229df4d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/response_checker.go
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package rest
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/errors"
+)
+
+// Check the http error status from a location URL.
+// And convert an error into a structured API object.
+// Finally ensure we close the body before returning the error
+type HttpResponseChecker interface {
+	Check(resp *http.Response) error
+}
+
+// Max length read from the response body of a location which returns error status
+const (
+	maxReadLength = 50000
+)
+
+// A generic http response checker to transform the error.
+type GenericHttpResponseChecker struct {
+	Kind string
+	Name string
+}
+
+func (checker GenericHttpResponseChecker) Check(resp *http.Response) error {
+	if resp.StatusCode < http.StatusOK || resp.StatusCode > http.StatusPartialContent {
+		defer resp.Body.Close()
+		bodyBytes, err := ioutil.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(resp.Body, maxReadLength))
+		if err != nil {
+			return errors.NewInternalError(err)
+		}
+		bodyText := string(bodyBytes)
+
+		switch {
+		case resp.StatusCode == http.StatusInternalServerError:
+			return errors.NewInternalError(fmt.Errorf("%s", bodyText))
+		case resp.StatusCode == http.StatusBadRequest:
+			return errors.NewBadRequest(bodyText)
+		case resp.StatusCode == http.StatusNotFound:
+			return errors.NewGenericServerResponse(resp.StatusCode, "", checker.Kind, checker.Name, bodyText, 0, false)
+		}
+		return errors.NewGenericServerResponse(resp.StatusCode, "", checker.Kind, checker.Name, bodyText, 0, false)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func NewGenericHttpResponseChecker(kind, name string) GenericHttpResponseChecker {
+	return GenericHttpResponseChecker{Kind: kind, Name: name}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/registry/generic/rest/response_checker_test.go b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/response_checker_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ece5cd0a588
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/response_checker_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2014 The Kubernetes Authors All rights reserved.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package rest
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"io/ioutil"
+	"net/http"
+	"reflect"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/errors"
+)
+
+func TestGenericHttpResponseChecker(t *testing.T) {
+	responseChecker := NewGenericHttpResponseChecker("Pod", "foo")
+	tests := []struct {
+		resp        *http.Response
+		expectError bool
+		expected    error
+		name        string
+	}{
+		{
+			resp: &http.Response{
+				Body:       ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString("Success")),
+				StatusCode: http.StatusOK,
+			},
+			expectError: false,
+			name:        "ok",
+		},
+		{
+			resp: &http.Response{
+				Body:       ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString("Invalid request.")),
+				StatusCode: http.StatusBadRequest,
+			},
+			expectError: true,
+			expected:    errors.NewBadRequest("Invalid request."),
+			name:        "bad request",
+		},
+		{
+			resp: &http.Response{
+				Body:       ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString("Pod does not exist.")),
+				StatusCode: http.StatusInternalServerError,
+			},
+			expectError: true,
+			expected:    errors.NewInternalError(fmt.Errorf("%s", "Pod does not exist.")),
+			name:        "internal server error",
+		},
+	}
+	for _, test := range tests {
+		err := responseChecker.Check(test.resp)
+		if test.expectError && err == nil {
+			t.Error("unexpected non-error")
+		}
+		if !test.expectError && err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("unexpected error: %v", err)
+		}
+		if test.expectError && !reflect.DeepEqual(err, test.expected) {
+			t.Errorf("expected: %s, saw: %s", test.expected, err)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestGenericHttpResponseCheckerLimitReader(t *testing.T) {
+	responseChecker := NewGenericHttpResponseChecker("Pod", "foo")
+	excessedString := strings.Repeat("a", (maxReadLength + 10000))
+	resp := &http.Response{
+		Body:       ioutil.NopCloser(bytes.NewBufferString(excessedString)),
+		StatusCode: http.StatusBadRequest,
+	}
+	err := responseChecker.Check(resp)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Error("unexpected non-error")
+	}
+	if len(err.Error()) != maxReadLength {
+		t.Errorf("expected lenth of error message: %d, saw: %d", maxReadLength, len(err.Error()))
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer.go b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer.go
index ee303dbb862..6c5dedaba06 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer.go
@@ -28,10 +28,11 @@ import (
 // LocationStreamer is a resource that streams the contents of a particular
 // location URL
 type LocationStreamer struct {
-	Location    *url.URL
-	Transport   http.RoundTripper
-	ContentType string
-	Flush       bool
+	Location        *url.URL
+	Transport       http.RoundTripper
+	ContentType     string
+	Flush           bool
+	ResponseChecker HttpResponseChecker
 }
 
 // a LocationStreamer must implement a rest.ResourceStreamer
@@ -54,8 +55,15 @@ func (s *LocationStreamer) InputStream(apiVersion, acceptHeader string) (stream
 	client := &http.Client{Transport: transport}
 	resp, err := client.Get(s.Location.String())
 	if err != nil {
-		return
+		return nil, false, "", err
 	}
+
+	if s.ResponseChecker != nil {
+		if err = s.ResponseChecker.Check(resp); err != nil {
+			return nil, false, "", err
+		}
+	}
+
 	contentType = s.ContentType
 	if len(contentType) == 0 {
 		contentType = resp.Header.Get("Content-Type")
diff --git a/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer_test.go b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer_test.go
index 9b6d1bec8e0..c81c22439f3 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer_test.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/generic/rest/streamer_test.go
@@ -24,7 +24,10 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"net/http/httptest"
 	"net/url"
+	"reflect"
 	"testing"
+
+	"k8s.io/kubernetes/pkg/api/errors"
 )
 
 func TestInputStreamReader(t *testing.T) {
@@ -116,3 +119,29 @@ func TestInputStreamTransport(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("Stream content does not match. Got: %s. Expected: %s.", string(result), message)
 	}
 }
+
+func fakeInternalServerErrorTransport(mime, message string) http.RoundTripper {
+	content := fmt.Sprintf("HTTP/1.1 500 \"Internal Server Error\"\nContent-Type: %s\n\n%s", mime, message)
+	return &testTransport{body: content}
+}
+
+func TestInputStreamInternalServerErrorTransport(t *testing.T) {
+	message := "Pod is in PodPending"
+	location, _ := url.Parse("http://www.example.com")
+	streamer := &LocationStreamer{
+		Location:        location,
+		Transport:       fakeInternalServerErrorTransport("text/plain", message),
+		ResponseChecker: NewGenericHttpResponseChecker("", ""),
+	}
+	expectedError := errors.NewInternalError(fmt.Errorf("%s", message))
+
+	_, _, _, err := streamer.InputStream("", "")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Errorf("unexpected non-error")
+		return
+	}
+
+	if !reflect.DeepEqual(err, expectedError) {
+		t.Errorf("StreamInternalServerError does not match. Got: %s. Expected: %s.", err, expectedError)
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/registry/pod/etcd/etcd.go b/pkg/registry/pod/etcd/etcd.go
index 4779e8aa950..ff72e654c65 100644
--- a/pkg/registry/pod/etcd/etcd.go
+++ b/pkg/registry/pod/etcd/etcd.go
@@ -241,10 +241,11 @@ func (r *LogREST) Get(ctx api.Context, name string, opts runtime.Object) (runtim
 		return nil, err
 	}
 	return &genericrest.LocationStreamer{
-		Location:    location,
-		Transport:   transport,
-		ContentType: "text/plain",
-		Flush:       logOpts.Follow,
+		Location:        location,
+		Transport:       transport,
+		ContentType:     "text/plain",
+		Flush:           logOpts.Follow,
+		ResponseChecker: genericrest.NewGenericHttpResponseChecker("Pod", name),
 	}, nil
 }