New Central Hotel & Hostel

This is the dormitory for San Francisco Conservatory down the street, and they refer to it as Golden Gate Hall. If you are doing anything at the Conservatory and tell you they are housing you in the dorms, this is it.
«Affectionately» referred to as Ghetto Gate Hall/​Hell, this place is a dump. They do have better rates if you are residing here long term, but the per night rate is $ 60/​night or so. I lived here summer of 2013 and I stayed here for a night later that year. It’s an experience, but it isn’t as bad as some people make it out to be. It’s so cheap. What do you expect?
Mice and bugs are something you just get used to seeing. I, personally, had no problems in my room. But when you are sitting on your friend’s floor and a furry critter runs over your foot? Ah. It’s a little freaky. If you see holes in the wall, plug them, and you’ll be good to go.
The laundry machines are old, and the one against the wall on the left smells like mold. There are only 3 washers for the entire building. I made sure to use a lot of detergent and fabric softener the whole time I lived here. They’re coin operated, but the price was reasonable.
The actual rooms have twin or full sized beds (totally random) and can be facing the street or a giant heating vent. There are some rooms with private bathrooms, but mostly the bathrooms are shared.
The bathrooms don’t have sinks. This grosses me out. There is hand sanitizer outside of the bathrooms, but it’s usually empty. This means you are touching quite a few doors before getting to the sink in your room. The showers are hit or miss. Some have NO water pressure. They’re often cold. But they are private, and they’re actual showers, not a row shower stalls.
There is a game room, kitchen, and, apparently, a smoking room on the fourth floor. The kitchen has plastic silverware and plates all of the time, which is nice.
Bob, the owner, is a decent guy. He was very nice to me when I lived there. As long as you don’t cause him any problems, he’ll pretty much just say hi and leave you alone. Always appreciated. The other workers can range from being mostly competent to dumber than a doorknob. The overweight Caucasian male with a shaved head will lie to you all of the time. He annoyed me constantly with excuses of why he couldn’t help you (I don’t know how to make keys, I don’t know where your promised linens are, I can’t run your credit card to pay, etc.)
If you are living here, you can’t regularly have overnight guests. It really sucks when you are meeting guys and can’t have them spend the whole night. Everyone not living there has to be out by midnight. It’s unfortunate, but I understand why.
The actual location of this hostel is what makes it worth it. The area it’s in is crappy. But you are directly in the center of San Francisco, which is awesome. BART is four blocks away, MUNI on the same block. Lots of nice food options a few blocks over. There is a Walgreens on the corner, and Hot Spot bar next to the hostel (Hopefully just temporarily closed!)
If you are just staying temporarily, they really do not have check in or check out times, which is really nice if you get in early or are leaving super late.
Buy some pepper spray, and good luck residing on Market Street!

Stayed here a few times back in the day when I had missed the last BART/​Caltrain of the night.
Pros:
Near public transportation (BART at Van Ness, F-​Market and a bunch of buses)
Late check-​in possibilities with definite likelihood for a free bed.
Inexpensive
Cons:
Old and run-​down.
Not as clean as other SF hostels (don’t take care of the common areas as much as they should).
Not very friendly workers.