This is how I prefer to spend my weekends. Nothing like a little trespassing to liven up the day!
Camarillo State Mental Hospital (Now known as California State University: Channel Islands).
All of these pictures were taken at the South Quad, where the school hasn’t quite gotten around to fixing things up, or the buildings have been deemed unstable.
This mental institution opened in 1936 and housed mentally ill and disabled people up until 1997.
This is a look inside one of the many, many bedrooms that housed anywhere from 2-6 patients. In a lot of the buildings, there are still tattered curtains hanging on the windows.
Above many of the patients’ rooms, there are alarms and lights that designated when the door to the room was locked.
Now, there are tons of windows that have been shattered either due to the elements of nature, or due to the rocks and beer cans thrown through them.
This old courtyard has been completely engulfed in grasses and weeds. Sigh, I’m in love! LOVE LOVE LOVE abandoned buildings and cities. The history that lived here is fascinating!
Everywhere I walked, something else stood out, begging to be seen and photographed.
If you’re interested in some of the history, there are tons of great links HERE and HERE and HERE.
Any abandoned buildings or towns in your area? I’m thinking I need to take a road trip!
Wow! The architecture of the building is really beautiful.
Did you see the abandoned playground by the children’s ward? When I went to school there it always freaked me out to see it. So sad.
Still catching up on your posts!
I did some work at a very similar place in south east Michigan in the early 2000’s at a place called the Clinton Valley Center. Old state mental hospital near Pontiac. The architecture was nothing short of spectacular. If you were to imagine an old 20’s or 30’s horror flick, this is the place that looks like it could have been filmed.
This link has some old and newer pics….and it’s a creepy as it looks.
http://historiccvc.8m.com/menu.html
LOVING these links! Keep em coming!
Pingback: Rock-A-Hoola Waterpark | Bites 'n Brews
I was there today, with my 2 jack russells, itis amazing. You can see and feel the presense of history.
I feel really sad————-the fires today have consumed this campus——-not destuction but the school had to be evacuated. We were just visiting yesterday, eating @ Subway———today the fire fighters over 5,ooo, are trying to save Camarillo and surrounding areas. God Bless them all.
I just found your website and love the pictures!! Have you ever been to Bodi, California? It’s an abandoned gold mining town in Northern California.
I haven’t yet! I tend to go to the places where there are “no trespassing” signs all around and no people (Rock-a-Hoola is my favorite so far), but I’m hoping to make it up there one day!
Hi, my aunt was a nurse here in the late 1950’s -1960’s. Her name was Lillian Fernandez. She told me and my sisters about a patient that confused her with another person and stalked her once with a knife! She said that Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were both there at one time. She always came to our house with a story and a joke to tell us that she heard at work, but I never had a clear picture of it until I got around to searching the internet; so, many thanks for the images of what my aunt used to see on a daily basis. If there’s a list of staff members anywhere, can you please forward the link to me? I found a tab on the menu of another website but, unfortunately, the link doesn’t work. My email is venus99@juno.com
Thanks again!
Wow
Things have not changed, still as eerie today as ever. I would not go to school there, too much history.
My mother worked there during the 1973 to 1980. She stated that lots of musicians and movie stars would come and go. They had a dual diagnosis center( addiction and mental health problems. You could also take patients home for Holidays, not spend the night but outings. She said she saw a lot of strange things and cases.
Thanks so much for posting these. I was a patient there on the children’s ward Unit 69A. It’s been 40 years since then. But I am still scarred with the memories.