Models participate in a monthlong promotion of the Stay Hotel, living in storefronts on Main Street in downtown L.A. designed like the new hotel rooms that are meant to target guests in their early 20s. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Passersby glance into the room shared by three male models, who are promoting the recently opened boutique hotel-youth hostel on Main Street, between 6th and 7th. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
Ashley McCarthy, left, and Alicia Baker are gated in after their first day on display. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
McCarthy, left, and Baker work on an Apple computer, which along with flokati rugs and Xboxes adorn the mod orange and white lobby of the Stay Hotel, where rooms hover under $100 a night. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A woman who identified herself as K.B. tries to talk to the female models through the locked glass doors. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
A man passing by is reflected in the glass wall as Zac Morris, left, and Toby Glass enjoy their stay. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
The 138 rooms of the Stay hotel-hostel are housed inside L.A.’s Cecil Hotel, which has been at the center of a long battle between the “old” and “new” downtowns. (Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
