[4] Franklin D. Roosevelt was named honorary president of AYH in 1936, and endorsed the organization by saying, “This was the best education I ever had, far better than schools.” Josephine and Frank Duveneck opened Hidden Villa, California's first youth hostel in 1937 in a rural setting with hiking trails 35 miles (56 km) south of San Francisco.

[5] 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.

[7] After World War II, international youth travel was embraced by governments as a way of encouraging interaction and understanding, and avoiding future conflict.

IYHF positioned the international movement for growth in the mid 1990s with the adoption of a common name and logo, and new quality standards for its more than 4,500 hostels.

By the early 2000s, HI USA made quality a priority and steadily closed hostels over the next decade that didn’t meet the highest of standards.

The flagship residence of the American Youth Hostels in the United States is in New York City, located in a landmark building designed by noted architect Richard Morris Hunt.

This popular hostel occupies the entire east blockfront of Amsterdam Avenue between 103rd and 104th Streets within the Frederick Douglass Houses superblock in Manhattan.