Entry No. 19 — the Los Angeles file — filed under: haunted
Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum
A free, deeply strange Sunset Boulevard museum run by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights, filled with antique psychiatric devices, restraint chairs, electroshock and lobotomy instruments (including a recreated ice-pick lobotomy station), and grim historical exhibits. It is one-sided advocacy rather than neutral medicine, which makes the parade of vintage medical-oddity hardware all the more surreal to walk through. Admission is free and it is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 5pm (closed Sundays).
The story
Step off Sunset Boulevard into 6616 Sunset, and you enter a sleek, high-budget exhibition that feels like a polished historical repository—until you start reading the text panels. Opened in December 2005, the Psychiatry: An Industry of Death Museum is the public-facing museum of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an organization founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology alongside psychiatrist Thomas Szasz. Its explicit objective is total ideological warfare on the psychiatric profession, depicting modern mental health care as a global enterprise built on profit and institutional harm.
What makes the galleries so deeply strange isn't just the sheer volume of vintage hardware—though you'll see heavy restraint chairs, early electroshock units, and a recreated ice-pick lobotomy station complete with stainless-steel surgical tools. It’s the seamless, relentless way the curation weaves genuine medical history and historical asylum abuses together with sweeping claims connecting modern psychiatry to societal collapse. Every display case and video wall is engineered around a single, unyielding thesis, making it one of the most singular pieces of fringe advocacy architecture operating openly in Los Angeles.
What it's like
You'll be greeted at the door by a polite docent who hands you an audio guide or directs you into the dark, labyrinthine gallery bays. The atmosphere inside is cool, silent, and intensely focused, with flat-screen video modules blasting documentary footage alongside displays of leather straps, antique medical devices, and archival photographs. Staff won't badger you or demand a donation, but you'll feel the steady push of a high-production narrative guiding you from room to room. Plan for about an hour, bring your own critical lens, and recognize you're stepping straight into a highly orchestrated turf war.
The move: Wander the free galleries of antique restraint chairs and electroshock machines and debate how much of the curation you believe.
- 📍 Hollywood, Los Angeles
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 6616 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90028
Hours: Added 2026-06-23 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- Memento Mori — Walk two blocks down to shop antique surgical tools and taxidermy, swapping high-concept museum propaganda for actual 19th-century medical oddities you can take home.
- Museum of Death — Double down on Hollywood's darkest storefronts by walking over to examine serial killer artwork, autopsy photos, and true-crime artifacts.
- Good Times at Davey Wayne's — Decompress after the heavy institutional exhibits by stepping through a refrigerator door into a 1970s garage-party bar for a drink.
Good to know
Is admission really free?
Yes, admission is completely free and open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10am to 5pm.
Who actually runs the museum?
It is operated by the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), an anti-psychiatry advocacy group established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology.
What actual artifacts are inside?
The collection features vintage medical restraint chairs, historical electroconvulsive therapy apparatuses, simulated lobotomy setups, archival documentation, and extensive video wall installations.
How long does it take to walk through?
Most visitors spend between 60 to 90 minutes moving through the gallery modules and watching the embedded video displays.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: cchr.org · Official site · Yelp · Roadside America · Wikipedia · pioneerworks.org
last checked: 2026-06-23