[1] The Astoria, originally the Toronto House Apartments was built by Robert Aubrey Wallace, a developer from Ontario.
[5] Many of the early occupants of the hotel were working class, such as dock workers at Ballantyne Pier and loggers.
[6] In 1950, operations of the apartments were taken over by Alex Bayer and William Sawchuk, who ran the previous incarnation of the Astoria on West Hastings.
The club aimed to help troubled and underprivileged youth from the nearby neighborhood, which was experiencing an economic downturn during the 1970s and 1980s.
During Expo 86, Fisher guaranteed that rents of long-term guests would not be raised despite the influx of visitors to the city.
[15] In recent years the Astoria Hotel has been home to a number of reoccurring events, such as Coffin Club, The Dark Eighties, and an amateur strip night named Rent Cheque.
[16] In March 1953, a 28-year-old woman named Olga Rutkowski committed suicide by jumping off the third floor of the hotel.
[21] On June 2, 1975, a 61-year-old man named Kelso Dickie died from burns he suffered after his mattress caught on fire in his room.
[22] In November 1986, two men named John Wilfred Dyck and Matthew William Wilson died after the fire escape they were standing on collapsed.
[25] A resident of the hotel named Juan Carlos Gonzales-Mejia, originally from Guatemala was charged with second degree murder.
[28][29] On the evening of February 6, 2018 a Coquitlam man named Martin James MacDonald was found unconscious in a bus stop outside of the hotel.