dedication

dedication, originally uploaded by marinkel.

the first time i came to this place was in 1988 when it was still a mental hospital. my friend kurt who was fascinated by the sixth dimension and abandoned gardens in hollywood drove me here one night to show me where the "crazy people" lived. like most institutions it was built on the far edge of town amidst the santa monica foothills near the pacific coast. when you drive there, your radio signal fades. as we circled the white walls of this spanish hacienda style facility, sounds of a piano played beautifully reached our ears. supposedly they came from the hands of a once famous pianist who had apparently lost it. but not her talent as i could tell. legend has it that the eagles song "hotel california" was about this asylum. a song played at my highschool graduation. a song ringing in my ears every so often...

then the hospital closed. this was part of a large sweep of closures begun during the reagan years. thousands of mentally ill patients were sent out into the streets. many of the homeless are the victims of this measure. for years the buildings stood empty, untouched, and abandandoned. one could wander the halls, visit the autopsy rooms, watch the torn curtains flutter in the santa ana winds. but there were plans for the place to make it a college. this came true about ten years after its doors had closed to its rightful owners.

so i returned to camarillo state hospital as a sort of inmate in 2002. well, a student... many of the buildings still had bars in front of their windows. weeds were covering courtyards. the ghosts of the insane were lingering in the halls and former dormitories. this first year one could still go inside the abandoned parts but soon yellow signs were posted everywhere warning you not to trespass. i missed the opportunity to visit the still-intact autopsy and electric shock rooms during one guided halloween tour. after this i met the friendly groundskeeper who sported a gold tooth when he smiled. "i'll show you around some time", he offered, when he saw me walking around with my camera. but i missed the necessary courage to take him up on it. so my pictures only show the outside and a few glances in when i could poke my lens through a broken window.

sometimes i hear things. do you?