‘California had a gem of a hospital for this purpose - - -’
Would that have been in Ventura County, by any chance?
If so, many years ago it became a 2 year university, and now is a 4 year one . .
To me, some of the buildings are creepy - - - knowing them from the past, but is okay when unknown , I guess.
It was Agnews State, in Sta Clara County. They had a special division for adolescents, and it was one of the leading places in the country. Also, there was a short-term emergency adolescent psych medicine facility in SF, although I don’t remember the name now.
Strangely enough, looking at it as it is now, CA had one of the best mental health systems in the country. NY also had a good one.
Gov. Reagan dumped institutionalization in CA (although I read later that he regretted it) mostly at the advice of the ACLU, on the one hand, and the urgings of fiscal conservatives on the other. They obviously didn’t realize that the cost of free-range mentally ill would be a heck of a lot higher than any institutional costs.
I was living there when he did this, and it’s really the only thing that has made me not like Reagan. He was an excellent President, but this was a serious blight on his record as Governor.