L.A. on a Shoestring : A New Youth Hostel Spruces Up Old Tradition

Unshaven and grimy from a day on the road, Kengo Uemura shifted his 30-pound backpack over his shorts and T-shirt and stared uncomfortably at the smartly dressed crowd gathered in the courtyard of the gleaming new Santa Monica building.

Perhaps he was at the wrong address, Uemura fretted. This certainly didn’t look like the kind of place where a weary traveler seeing the world on a shoestring could find a cheap bed for the night.

It was, though. Dignitaries clustered in the courtyard the other day were there to dedicate the $4.5-million, 200-bed youth hostel geared to travelers whose itineraries are thicker than their wallets.

As the officials prepared to snip the grand-opening ribbon, the 21-year-old Uemura, of Fukuoka, Japan, put his name on the waiting list for a $12-a-night bed.

In the era of the $100-per-night hotel room, the wait would be worth it.

First established in central Europe in 1909 to help youngsters escape to the countryside from industrialized cities, hostels are now found in 66 countries, according to the American Youth Hostel Inc. The network, launched in the United States in 1934, now includes overnight rest stops in 42 states.

Most hostels offer modest accommodations at best. They are often tucked away in aging buildings outfitted with cots crammed into small rooms. Baths are shared. Sparse, sometimes ragged furniture discourages travelers from lingering.

The new Santa Monica International AYH-Hostel is different, however. Its downtown 2nd Street location is steps from the beach. Bedrooms are bright and airy and its large living room is comfortably decorated.

“Hostels are popular because they’re the only way a lot of people can afford to travel,” explained Hilde Krogsgard, 20, of Larvik, Norway. She got one of the last vacant beds at the Santa Monica hostel and was storing her luggage in a coin locker before leaving for an afternoon of sightseeing.

Nearly 800 hostel beds are scattered between San Pedro and Santa Monica. The area meets the two most important criteria for young travelers: It is close both to the beach and to Los Angeles International Airport.

Some hostels require that boarders show passports to prove they are travelers; others discourage non-tourists by charging higher room rates and limiting the number of days they can stay.

Ed Mulder, manager of the American Youth Hostel’s 60-bed facility in San Pedro, said local AYH outlets refuse to rent beds to Los Angeles-area residents. Additionally, he said, he tries to screen out “bums and bag ladies” by advising them “we are full.”

Privacy is at a premium at some hostels, where as many as 16 people sleep in double-deck bunks in dormitory rooms. So are peace and quiet.

“It’s not deluxe, but that doesn’t bother me,” said Andreas Andreasson, a 21-year-old Swedish physics student who stayed last week at the Share-Tel International hostel in Venice.

He said he set aside $2,300 to finance a 6 1/2-week holiday in the United States and Greece. “People my age need to economize in order to make it through the rest of the journey.”

Although the new Santa Monica hostel is part of the nonprofit American Youth Hostel Inc. network, the privately owned Share-Tel is a commercial venture. It is a 1920s-style former 16-unit apartment house a few hundred feet from the beach. Its 88 beds rent for $15 a night.

Whereas most American Youth Hostel outlets limit visitors’ stays to five days, have a midnight curfew and close rooms during the daytime to encourage visitors to sightsee, independents such as the Share-Tel have looser rules.

Hakan Samuelsson and Lars Nilsson, both 23 and from Gothenburg, Sweden, checked in 44 days ago. Last week, they were sharing one of the apartments with British traveler Nigel Huxley, 20, and West German Alwin Schock, 28.

Their two-room unit looked like home. Dirty clothes were scattered everywhere and rock ‘n’ roll blared from a radio that shared a shelf with bottles of vodka and gin. The four sat around a table littered with breakfast dishes as they argued good-naturedly over the World Cup soccer playoffs while they waited for the midday sun to burn away the ocean fog.

“We were only going to stay four days at first. But we’ve come to like Venice,” Samuelsson explained.

A few blocks away on Lincoln Boulevard, Peter Casanova, 24, of Villa, Switzerland, sat outside the privately run Interclub Hostel, a converted wine shop that rents its 60 beds for $12 a night.

He and Walter Fischnaller, 26, of Bolzano, Italy, were discussing plans for the evening that seemed to revolve around the hostel itself.

Said Casanova: “L.A.’s too big for me.” Said Fischnaller: “They have good parties here. People are nice.”

Interclub co-owner Peter Eckert said competition is fierce among rival independent hostel operators, who sometimes report competitors they suspect of operating illegally to Los Angeles city officials. But Building and Safety administrators say hostels are permitted in both multiple-family-residential and commercial zones.

So the dozen-bed hostel that opened for business last week above a dry cleaning shop in Venice seemed perfectly legal--even though its first five customers were sleeping on the floor.

Three days earlier the hostel had been a construction company office.

“They say they’re coming today to build the beds,” explained visitor E. J. Kromhout, 25, of Groningen, the Netherlands. “Until then, they’re only charging $10 a night instead of $12.”

No matter how comfortable a hostel is, it cannot compare with a hotel. Or with home, said Santa Monica hostel guest Maria Evans, 25, of London. After months on the road, she will fly home with her knapsack and small duffel bag on July 17.

She’ll celebrate her return, she said, with “a bottle of champagne, a nice long bubble bath and a huge color TV.”