HI - Los Angeles - South Bay Hostel

The hostel is clean and safe, plus the kitchen is nice. the downside is that it is a former military base and feels/operates like one. The "facility" is guarded by barbed wire and is inside a state park (which also means you can't have a glass of wine with dinner) -- far from L.A. or any worthwhile beach. The beaches in the area are poor at best (most with very short beach front that is rock lined/costly) and the view from the hostel is hardly spectacular. The rooms are modest sized and are all white, drab, and lack any injection of character or human life. The beds are merely thin mats on bunkbeds and are terribly uncomfortable. If you are looking for the safest hostel that is loosely in the L.A. area, you've found it. But, if you actually want to see the city and not feel like you are in a prison then find someplace else.

Lovely landscape from the hill of this hostel. Inside helpful and dynamic staff. Rooms quite and large. I don't remember the name but i would thank the kind attendant who help me printing the itinerary to Grand Canyon, last august. Regards from Italy.

I stayed for three days and liked the staff — very helpful. But you need a car to get there. Hence, there not a lot of people there, which is good or bad depending on how much you want to socialize or how much you want to be left alone.

The hostel is located on a hill above the ocean and has frequent winds blowing off the ocean — the air is noticeably cleaner and fresher than you'll find in the rest of LA, and there are no factories in the neighborhood. I do agree that having a car helps, and that they could use more bathrooms. Other than that, a good place to stay.

I am not rating the hostel itself but its location. I had to quickly evacuate this hostel due to the drift of industrial fumes from the nearby factories at the waterfront. Even if you don't have multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), it is not wise to inhale toxic fumes. I would like to see this Web site have a category for air quality. Please indicate whether a hostel is close to factories, freeway exit, etc. I don't like staying at motels next to freeway exits but one hostel in Hollywood is next to one. Value the air you breathe!

There is a nice large dining area, a movie room with free videos, a library, and a kitchen with a spectacular view. The only things that are really great about this hostel are the location and the view. The facilities in the bunk/private rooms are rather poor. Unkempt rooms with uncomfortable plastic-wrapped bed mats will make you sweat. Count one single shower/toilet/double-sink bathroom in each building for ten rooms and twenty people. This hostel will limit your stay to seven days in each year, and will enforce that policy even if they are empty. The staff are all female. Some rooms are right next to a city maintenance yard/parking lot. City workers will greet you at 5 a.m., warming up their diesel trucks or dumping garbage in the dumpster right by your window.

If you don't have a car this isn't the place for you, unless you like to walk—far. But otherwise, the location is terrific. The hostel is way up on the top of a hill, and it has beautiful views of the ocean. Don't miss the sunsets! It has a fun, helpful staff. I met lots of cool people from all over the world. It seemed really safe, too.

This hostel was great for evything except for location. If you have a car it isn't bad though. If you want a peaceful area with plenty of ocean view this is great. The staff were nice and facilities were fine. The army barracks looks was kinda cool. I met some great people the 2 times I've stayed here. Rave Review!!!

Gracious staff, spectacular view, close to all of the sights and the ocean. I'm goin back!