American Youth Hostels

Hostelling International USA

The NYC HI hostel on Amsterdam Avenue, formerly the Association Residence Nursing Home.
Abbreviation	HI USA
Formation	1934
Type	Youth organization
Legal status	Non-profit
Purpose	Youth hostels offer inexpensive temporary accommodations for travelers.
Headquarters	Silver Spring, Maryland
Region served	United States
Parent organization	Hostelling International
Budget	≈ $18,000,000 (2012 revenue)
Website	Official Site

Hostelling International USA (HI USA), also known as American Youth Hostels, Inc. (AYH), is a nonprofit organization that operates youth hostels and runs programs around those hostels. It is the official United States affiliate of Hostelling International (HI), also known as the International Youth Hostel Federation. It is incorporated as a not-for-profit organization, with its headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.

The first American youth hostel was opened in Northfield, Massachusetts in 1934 by Isabel and Monroe Smith, and American Youth Hostels was born. Within a year, a network of more than 30 hostels was operating throughout New England. Josephine and Frank Duveneck opened Hidden Villa, California's first youth hostel in 1937 in a rural setting with hiking trails 35 miles south of San Francisco. In 1947 a preaching Quaker minister, Leslie "Barry" Barret and his wife, Winnifred, turned a rundown New England farm into a rustic retreat center and youth hostel and called it Friendly Crossways. Like Hidden Villa, Friendly Crossways attracted groups promoting peace and social justice. When Hidden Villa dropped out of the HI-USA system in 2010, Friendly Crossways became the longest continually operating hostel in the US.

Pre-war European political currents overshadowed much of the international movement in the late 1930s. During the war, parts of the European youth hostel system still continued to operate, as well as a small network of AYH hostels. Britain expanded its own hostel network, while Australia and New Zealand started their associations.

The end of the war brought a time of worldwide rebuilding and reflection. International youth travel was embraced by governments as a way of encouraging interaction and understanding, and avoiding future conflict.

In the 1960s and 1970s the movement prospered. Public awareness and hostel use increased as student travel became even more widespread. New hostel facility standards, management training and more consistent operating policies improved the quality of the hostel stay. AYH also sponsored self-supported bicycle tours with overnights at its hostels to such places as the Midwest and Canadian Rockies. In the mid- to late-1960s, the New York chapter staged the "3 a.m. ride" through New York City. Riders began to assemble in Washington Square, around 1 a.m. and at 3, began to ride the deserted streets of Manhattan. Around dawn, the riders took the Staten Island ferry and ended the ride at a beach on Staten Island.