Staff does a great job of keeping things clean, organizing events, and creating an atmosphere of comfort, safety, and socialization.
As with any hostel, a positive is that people from all walks of life and every region of the US and the world come together here. It can, however, also be a pain point (also in any hostel) as it seems it is not universally considered rude to have blaringly loud conversations or video on speaker phone at all hours of the night, or to make as much noise as one wants by coming in, going out, or accessing luggage or lockers at all hours of the night.
That being said, Gaslamp Hostel is one of the best at mitigating that and creating a pleasant place.