HI-USA Golden Gate Council 50th Anniversary

HI-USA Golden Gate Council celebrates 50 years!

We’re celebrating 50 years!

Founded in 1958 by a dedicated group of volunteers, the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA has grown into a network of 10 beautiful hostels serving more than 200,000 visitors every year.

In honor of this momentous occasion, the U.S. Congress and the California legislature passed resolutions recognizing the important accomplishments of the Golden Gate Council over the past five decades. In addition, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors declared October 26, 2008, "Hostelling International Day."

To receive a free copy of "Adventures in Hostelling," our 88-page, 50th anniversary commemorative publication, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

"Adventures in Hostelling" Writing Contest

In May 2008, we announced our call for entries for short stories about memorable hostelling experiences. More than 100 people submitted their personal tales of "adventures in hostelling," and our jury set about the tough task of selecting the winners.

You can read the winning stories here.

All winning stories have been published in a special 50th anniversary commemorative publication, which also includes stories by Council staff and volunteers, as well as a history of hostelling in Northern California. To receive a free copy of this 88-page publication, email This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Golden Anniversary Event Series

Eight of our hostels hosted special anniversary events — from summer BBQs to art exhibits, a Thanksgiving Dinner to a Haunted Hostel Halloween — bringing hostellers, members, and locals together in a series of free, public celebrations. Check out photos of the festivities on our new Flickr site.

  • Keith Knight Art Exhibit & Reception
    September 20, San Francisco City Center Hostel
    Read more
  • Haunted Hostel Halloween Festival
    October 25, Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel
    See photos :: Read more
  • Labyrinth Building at Wilson Creek Beach
    November 2, Redwood National Park Hostel
    See photos :: Read more
  • Golden Gate Council Staff Art Exhibit & Reception
    November 8, Sacramento Hostel
    See photos :: Read more
  • Thanksgiving Dinner Potluck
    November 27, Marin Headlands Hostel
    Read more

50th Anniversary Luncheon

More than 200 guests joined us at the 50th Anniversary Luncheon on October 26, a special event celebrating 50 years of welcoming the world to Northern California.

The festivities began with an optional pre-luncheon hike on Ocean Beach, and continued at the United Irish Cultural Center with a social hour, luncheon, special anniversary program, and a silent auction benefitting our youth educational programs.

You can see photos of the event here, or read more about the event here.

OUR HISTORY

For a brief timeline of events, click here.

Birth of the hostelling movement

Hostelling began in 1909 when Richard Schirrmann, a schoolteacher in Altena, Germany, began taking his students out of their city neighborhoods, on overnight hiking trips to introduce them to the natural world. During their trips, Schirmann and his students found rudimentary accommodations in makeshift converted classrooms and farm buildings.

Inspired by the idea of encouraging good health and a return to nature, Schirrmann sought to create a network of hostels in converted classrooms around the countryside. The first youth hostel was established in 1912, when Schirrmann's town government allowed him to convert two rooms in its Altena Castle to dormitories.

The idea quickly caught on, and soon many castles and other buildings were converted to hostels, first in Germany and then throughout Europe. In 1932, the International Youth Hostel Federation was established with Schirrmann as its first president, to ensure consistent quality standards among hostels and provide international membership benefits to hostellers across Europe.

Hostelling comes to America

The hostelling movement came to the U.S. after Isabel and Monroe Smith led a group of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts on a tour of Europe, met Schirrmann, and were persuaded by him to attend an IYHF meeting. They returned to the U.S. and founded the nonprofit organization American Youth Hostels, opening the first American hostel in Northfield, Massachusetts, in 1934.

Three years later, Frank and Josephine Duvenecks opened the first hostel in California, on their ranch in Los Altos Hills. Now part of HI-USA Golden Gate Council, HI-Hidden Villa is the oldest continuously operating hostel in the country, as well as a working farm, day camp, and educational center with year-round programs for school children.

History of HI-USA Golden Gate Council

In 1958, a small group of enthusiastic volunteers formed a hostelling club in San Francisco, which led to the establishment that same year of the nonprofit Golden Gate Council of American Youth Hostels (AYH). Many of these early volunteers were themselves transplants from Europe, and hostels had played an important role in their childhood education. From the beginning, they focused their energy in two directions:  fun, social, recreational opportunities through weekend outings, and the development of youth hostels in Northern California.

Though a few small, rustic hostels came and went in the early 1960s (including the Tocoloma Hostel near Point Reyes and a hostel in Los Gatos), the dream of a Northern California hostel network finally found a lasting hold in conjunction with the establishment of National Parks in the Bay Area. In 1972, the first Council-run hostel (now HI-Point Reyes) was developed by volunteers at Laguna Ranch in the Point Reyes National Seashore.

The success of HI-Point Reyes, combined with a great effort by volunteers to lobby park officials, led to the development of two hostels in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, HI-Marin Headlands in 1978 and the San Francisco International Hostel (now HI-San Francisco Fisherman's Wharf) in 1980. An immediate success with thousands of foreign hostellers filling its beds, the San Francisco hostel in Fort Mason became the model for developing large hostels in major cities around the United States.

A California Coast Hostel Plan developed in 1978 by Huey Johnson, Resources Secretary under Governor Jerry Brown, led to the establishment of two lighthouse hostels in San Mateo County: HI-Point Montara Lighthouse in 1980, and HI-Pigeon Point Lighthouse in 1981. These two Golden Gate Council hostels were intended as pilot projects for a chain of 38 hostels along the California coast, but the plan was shelved by the subsequent administration after Governor Brown left office.

Meanwhile, in accordance with the Golden Gate Council's youth-focused mission and history, and the crucial help of some eager teachers among the volunteers, the Council sponsored AYH ecology clubs in local high schools during the 1960s and '70s. In San Francisco, student clubs at Galileo, Mission, Lowell, and McAteer high schools set up recycling collection centers on their campuses, earning money to finance backpacking, skiing, and other recreational trips to hostels around Northern California.

In 1986, the Council founded the Hostel Adventure Program (now Outdoor Hostel Adventures), an overnight environmental education program which brought inner-city youth to National Park hostels to experience the outdoors. In the tradition of the AYH ecology clubs, the Hostel Adventure Program made hostels a base for introducing urban youth to the concepts of environmental stewardship and conservation. Since its inception, the Hostel Adventure Program has served nearly 25,000 Bay Area youth.

With professional staff and hostel management now in place, the Golden Gate Council continued to grow, opening HI-Redwood National Park in a restored pioneer homestead in 1987, and the historic HI-Sacramento hostel in a Gold Rush-era mansion in 1995. In response to the growing influx of young international tourists to the "Golden Gate," the Council also opened two additional hostels in San Francisco, HI-San Francisco Downtown (1992) and HI-San Francisco City Center (2001).

HI-USA Golden Gate Council in the 21st century

Today, this longtime stalwart of the hostelling movement is known as the Golden Gate Council of Hostelling International USA, a name that denotes its affiliation with the International Youth Hostel Federation, a nonprofit network of more than 4,000 hostels in 60 countries. As it celebrates its 50th anniversary, the Golden Gate Council is the largest network of hostels in the country, including some of the top-rated Hostelling International hostels in the world. (In 2007, HI-Redwood National Park tied with the Shin-Osaka Hostel in Japan for the highest customer ratings in the world, according to IYHF; HI-Pigeon Point Lighthouse, HI-Point Montara Lighthouse, and HI-Sacramento tied for sixth place worldwide).

Seven of the Council's ten hostels were developed as public-private partnerships with national, state, or municipal government agencies, and nine are examples of historic preservation and adaptive re-use of historic buildings. The Council's ten Northern California hostels served more than 200,000 visitors last year.

The success of the Golden Gate Council's programs and hostels could be attributed to their affordability and attractive tourist locations, or their professional management and commitment to meeting and exceeding the standards of cleanliness, safety, and service required by Hostelling International. But there is also something to be said for the Council's ongoing commitment to the idealism which has defined the hostelling movement since 1909:

"Suppose that the thoughtful young people of all countries could be provided with suitable meeting places where they could get to know each other!... That could and must be the role of youth hostels, not only in Germany but also throughout the world, building a bridge of peace from nation to nation."
-- Richard Schirrmann, founder of the hostelling movement and first president of the International Youth Hostel Federation
ReservationsReservations
JoinJoin DonateDonate Contact UsContact Us