Controversial Psychiatric Facility Opens

A controversial psychiatric facility finally opened in Inglewood Friday across the street from Centinela Hospital Medical Center, which lost a two-year legal battle to block construction.

Didi Hirsch Psychiatric Service, a part of Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center of Culver City, held an opening ceremony on Myrtle Avenue for the 14-bed residential treatment facility for adults known as Excelsior House.

Centinela, one of the city’s largest employers and most politically powerful institutions, had argued that patients at the unlocked residence would pose a danger to its clients, staff and neighbors. Hospital President Russell Stromberg had compared the situation to “putting a matchstick next to a can of gasoline.”

In ruling against Centinela, Superior Court Judge Kurt J. Lewin, however, criticized the hospital, saying it showed an irrational fear of the mentally ill in trying to move the facility out of its back yard.