The Department of Buildings is hostile to this hostel.
About 100 guests — many stuck in New York because of the Icelandic volcano — were forced from a Harlem hostel last night after the agency issued an order to vacate because the building has only one staircase.
The sudden evictions from L-Hostel, at 1961 Adam Clayton Powell Blvd., had travelers scrambling for a place to stay.
“We booked here and it was very nice and now we’re being thrown out in the streets,” fumed French tourist Lala Gassana, 22.
“I would have been happier staying here.”
Elien Christiaen’s flight home to Belgium was canceled, stranding her in Philadelphia.
“We decided, why stay in Philly? So we came here,” said Christiaen, 27.
Gal Sela, 37, has run the boarding house for about two years, and doesn’t understand why the city wants to shut it down.
“There are no safety issues. To force people out on the streets is not right,” Sela said.
The DOB didn’t return calls last night. With Matthew Nestel