NotSo Hostel lives up to its name

C of C grad nurtures sense of community at downtown
establishment, the first of its kind in Charleston

BY RAY MARTINEZ
Of The Post and Courier Staff

This guy calls up, wants to know how much.

"Nineteen dollars."

"What do you get for $19?"

"Bed, breakfast [parking,]. Everything!"

"The women, too?"

"Whaaaat?"

Some people are confused about Claire Cunningham's business.

"It's a hostel, not a brothel," she says of her 1-year-old establishment on
Spring Street, the first of its kind in Charleston. It's called the NotSo
Hostel.

Cunningham, an old soul for 23, points out other things the hostel is
not.

It's not a flophouse. Not a free-love, drugs-are-cool hippy commune. Not
a hotbed for beret-wearing Che revolutionaries or Cloneaid heads or
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals -- not, she's quick to add,
that there's anything wrong with those folks.

Illegal drugs are not cool, and the rule on drinking is simple: "Alcohol is
allowed; drunkenness is not." And to prevent locals from taking
advantage of the cheap rates and casual ambience as a crash pad, she
requires a passport at registration and has a three-week-maximum-stay
rule. Then there's this cardinal rule: "One bunk, one body."

Apparently the zoning rulers of the city think the NotSo Hostel is not so
bad. After what Cunningham perceived as some trepidation on the part
of city planners, the city approved the hostel slightly more than a year
ago, and then approved its expansion in March. Cunningham recalls
one article in The Post and Courier about the city considering her zoning
request that "made it seem like I was doing something wrong."

But she passed. She's turned out to be a good tenant, the hostel's
image is good, and business is good. But business is business, and
she's no businesswoman.

"Lord, no," sighs the Aiken native, a thrift-store hipster, waif thin and
freckle-faced with comic-page Cathy hair.

No, the College of Charleston history grad got in the business for the
lifestyle. She sees herself as one of the "innovative young people"
interested in adding to and nurturing a sense of place in Charleston, a
sense based on a harmonic notion of the city.

"I love Charleston and I love hosteling," Cunningham says. "The city is
so walkable, so beautiful. The hostelers love the feel of it. They say it
feels tropical, yet European. The city is so livable."

The daughter of a surgeon and a botanist, Cunningham's venture
seems like a whimsical extension of her charmed childhood. At 8, she
sold potholders around the Hilton Head Island marina where her
parents had a sailboat. At 10, she had a deal with a local bakery in Aiken
to deliver fresh bread on her bicycle.

"I felt like people really needed fresh bread," she says.

Now she's brought new life to Spring Street.

"What Charleston needs is an infusion of outsiders," she says, noting
that while the city's Spring and Cannon streets task force has
propagated a landscaping and palmetto revival in the Martin Luther King

Jr. District, she has attracted an interesting parade of people.

In its first year, the hostel saw about 500 visitors from all over, mostly
western European countries but also Tasmania, Kazakhstan, Australia,
China, Vietnam, Korea, Suriname, South Africa and Morocco. Then
there's the trickle of Americans, such as the Wall Street investment
banker who was in search of a new life and passing through on a
bicycle on his way to Florida, and the writer from the Adirondacks, also
on a bicycle, running away from his family on the spur of a midlife crisis.

"He used to sit on the porch and play guitar and sing communist-
manifesto-type songs," Cunningham remembers fondly. "He talked
about moving to Charleston, but he ended up riding back to his family.

"We get all classes of people. They stay here for the community aspect
as well as for the cheapness. It's so much warmer than a sterile hotel
room.

"A well-run hostel is one where you feel a sense of community, where
everyone meets everyone, talks over waffles and goes out at night to
see the city."

She has three buildings on a half-acre lot that shares the block with at
least one charred, uninhabitable house, a few houses under colorful
renovation, Safety Cab, the Edward M. Brown law office, a consortium of
bail bondsmen and Tobias Barber Shop. Cunningham has completely
converted her main building, a 2,200-square-foot, 1840 two-story
colonnade with front porches. Downstairs is the living room, kitchen and
laundry. Upstairs are the men's and women's dorms, which can
accommodate 18, and two private rooms: a double bed and futon suite
for $35 and a double and single bed for $40.

Next she will ask the city to permit her to turn the 1,600-square-foot
building in the middle into "six fantastic rooms." Cunningham lives in
the 800-square-foot bungalow in the back.

She works from 9 a.m. to noon, takes the afternoon off, then picks up
again from 5-10 p.m. She washes sheets, cooks waffles, dusts, tends
to the vegetable, herb and flower gardens, takes reservations, gives
directions, and updates the hostel's Web site. In the afternoon, she
hops on her 1972 Schwin classic (rusty wheel fenders and the left pedal
missing) to run errands, visit friends and go to lunch. A vegan since the
third grade, when she survived primarily on bread and chocolate cake,
Cunningham prefers Yo Burrito, Kool Beanz and Gaulart & Maliclet, the
French cafe on Broad Street.

Back at the hostel, young men and women lounge in the yellow stucco,
paperback-scattered living room playing Scrabble and chess and
cruising high-speed Internet while a 33 record spins Simon and
Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson." When it's cooler, the porch becomes a
hangout for playing guitar and telling traveler's tales.

Cunningham expects the success of the NotSo Hostel as a business
and as a good neighbor on Spring Street to grow. She said Lonely
Planet, the backpacker's bible, will list her hostel in its edition coming
out this fall.

The only thing that hasn't worked out as she would have hoped is the
name.

She's considering changing it.

"The ironic thing," she says, "is most foreigners don't get the pun."

But some do. One woman from Britain commented, "It's good to have a
NotSo Hostel in a not so American city."

If you're passing through town on limited funds or you just want to crash
for a while in historic downtown Charleston, you're in luck. Charleston's
NotSo Hostel will hook you up for $15 a night for three or more nights or
$19 for one night. Amazingly, prices include tax, linen, breakfast,
parking, bikes, and airport/train/bus shuttle. Just imagine, you can wake
up to free yerba mate and make your own sushi rolls every Wednesday.
This spring, they will provide fresh kiwi and raspberries grown from their
very own garden. This art-filled 1850s classic Charleston home with a
double porch also offers budget accommodations for private rooms and
weekly stays. They even provide a platform for campers. Hats off to
Claire Cunningham, the 22-yr-old College of Charleston graduate who
dreamed this up.

NOTSO HOSTEL HAS LOTS TO OFFER
George Street Observer, September 19, 2002
By Jake Harris
Staff writer

Twenty-two year old Claire Cunningham, a graduate of the College from
Aiken, SC., had a bold vision. She wanted to provide affordable lodging
for travelers in the downtown Charleston area.

She now lives that vision, owning and operating the area's only youth
hostel on 156 Spring St. She charges $19 a night, a bargain unheard in
the historic district, for comfortable rooms.

With help from family, friends, and Mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., who "loved
her idea," Cunningham created NotSo Hostel. After talking to the zoning
administrator, Lee Batchelder, Cunningham strategically chose her
Spring Street location near MUSC.

"My chances of approval by the zoning commission were good in this
area because of the mixture of houses and businesses," said
Cunningham. "That's awesome because this place is such a short
distance from all the good places (historical sites, retaurants and
bars)."

NotSo Hostel has everything that travelers might need. The bedrooms
contain bunk beds, large lockers, and spacious closets. In addition to
the large dorm-style bedrooms are bathrooms, a living room and a
kitchen where Cunningham provides her guests with a small breakfast
every morning.

In the living room is a PC with internet access for the guests who might
need to make reservations at other hostels, comfortable couches, a
television and VCR and walls loaded with colorful maps of the country.
Bicycles are provided for the guests as well.

Cunningham had her vision when taking a vast journey across
America's heartland and parts of Canada by train, staying at various
hostels and becoming more familiar with the hostel business.

"People who go to hostels are a different crowd," she said."There's not
as much privacy as a hotel, but it's all about meeting new and
interesting people anyway, it's a whole different lifestyle."

C OF C GRADUATE OPENING HOSTEL ON SPRING
STREET
By: Francia McCormack Of The Post and Courier Staff
Originally Published on: 07/11/02
Page: 1

AH:22-year-old hopes to open site today, expand the capacity to 24
visitors.

It's a new idea for downtown Charleston cheap living for visitors.
Nineteen dollars a night in the Historic District is no doubt a bargain.

It's new for Charleston, but it's an old concept a youth hostel.

Twenty-two-year-old Claire Cunningham, a College of Charleston
graduate from Aiken, thought of opening a hostel in January, and soon
her hunt for a house began.

She began researching tax records and set up a meeting with Mayor
Joseph P. Riley Jr. Soon, NotSo Hostel was created.

"When I talked to the mayor, he loved the idea. He told me to speak to
(zoning administrator) Lee Batchelder, who suggested getting a house
on Spring Street," Cunningham said.

He suggested Spring because it was an area with various zonings
where homes are mixed in with businesses, she said. She also had a
greater chance of being approved by the city's zoning commission if she
purchased on Spring Street.

It wasn't long before she found the perfect house. It was actually three
houses - one in the front and two in the back. The main house will be
where guests stay.

The hostel will give visitors a bunk bed - dormitory-style - and common
areas like a living room, kitchen and bathrooms.

A light breakfast will be provided as well.

Cunningham got the idea of a hostel in Charleston after her journey
across the United States, during which she crashed at various hostels
in 16 cities. She traveled by train and packed light.

"Most visitors who stay in hostels travel by train, bus or car," she said.
"These are low-impact visitors. They have a lot less impact on the
environment, but they do still bring money."Cunningham will offer bike
rentals to ease traffic problems and provide easy commuting around
town.

Across the country and Canada there are an estimated 500 hostels. To
get the word out about NotSo Hostel, Cunningham is sending fliers to
hostels on the East Coast and creating a Web site.

The hostel also will provide Internet connections since so many
computer-savvy travelers plan their trips around the country and the
world by visiting Web sites and setting up reservations.

For Cunningham, the main benefit of the hostel is meeting people.

"A motto for hostels is 'Life's too short to sleep alone.' Everybody is in
his or her own bed, but it is kind of nice being surrounded by people,"
she said.

She hopes to open her doors today. There is much cosmetic work to be
done to the house, but it is structurally sound, she said.

In the beginning, she will have room for 10 to 11 visitors. By the end of
the summer she plans to accommodate 20 to 24.

Cunningham isn't sure exactly how long she wants to be in the
business, but she see her future in Charleston for many years to come,
just as long as she isn't still in the youth hostel business when she's
45.

"I'm sure by then some young person will want to join the business and
take it over," she said.

Her real success comes from already opening the doors of her own
business at such a young age. Her family and friends have shown
strong support, including volunteering to clean, build and landscape.
Someone even donated linens for the bed.

Cunningham was able to purchase the house through a loan and the
backing of her father, even though she's considered a high-risk
individual because of her age.

The houses need a lot of work, so getting them in shape will be an
ongoing process for Cunningham.

There are many people who see the importance of opening a hostel in
Charleston, she said.

"I'm really happy about this whole endeavor. And through this whole
process, people have been nothing more than encouraging. Charleston
was really missing out, but no more," she said.

Francia McCormack covers downtown. Contact her at 937-5521 or
fmccormack@postandcourier.com.