Redwood Hostel

Saturday was my first experience with a hostel—The Redwood Hostel. It's located south of Crescent City about a half-hour away. The building is a historical place, and was celebrating its 100th birthday, while the business was celebrating 20 years as a hostel. (Just in case you don't know what a hostel is, it's like a dorm/hotel for travelers. A bed costs about $20 per night, but you will likely share your room with other people unless you get a family room or something. It's sort of communal living, with a shared bathroom, kitchen, dining room and living room area).
So anyway, The Triplicate did a story on the landmark event, and our photographer booked a gig for his band while he was out there getting photos. So several of us from the newspaper took a trip to the hostel! It was really neat—there were people from all over the country staying there, and some people from out of the country. The building, right on Hwy. 101, is nestled into the side of a hill, all surrounded by vegetation, and it overlooks the ocean and a small beach. It really is picturesque.
There was one older man there whose ancestor was the original owner of the property, and he had a lot of whopping stories to tell about his family and different things that happened around Crescent City. He's still upset at the government for taking his family's home though. The hostel, before it was a hostel, was swallowed up by the National Park Service when they created Redwood National Park. It sat in disrepair for some time before they renovated it (though it still has an "old" feel) and began running it as a youth hostel.
It was a great experience to be there and meet so many different kinds of people.