Photos by Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
ABOVE: A room inside Yiu’s inn. RIGHT: A refl ection of Yiu appears in a mirror inside her inn.
Continued from Page 6
cultures. I wanted to own a hostel. But with
my own bathroom.”
After their fi rst few trips to Astoria,
the family became so enamored that Dua
thought they should buy a vacation home.
They started looking for properties in town.
“My heart just stopped when I saw the
listing for this beautiful historic Franklin
Street Station with six bedrooms,” Yiu said.
Yiu dreamed of purchasing the loca-
tion to open a hostel but she and Dua had
recently invested in a Portland restaurant.
“I didn’t tell him that it was a crazy
dream I’d always had. I kept it to myself
but I would look at that listing online every
day, thinking about what I’d do with it.
Imagining the décor, how I’d change this
and that, all the little details, what I’d even
serve for breakfast,” Yiu said.
After Yiu explained to Dua that opening
a hostel was a dream of hers, he agreed to
buy the property with her.
“All of a sudden, the stars were align-
ing,” Yiu said.
Things did not go exactly as planned,
though, since Yiu took over the property
last March, just in time for the pandemic
to take hold. She spent the three months of
lockdown managing reconstruction, design
and shopping as her guesthouse became a
reality.
Around the same time the inn was pur-
chased, Yiu and Dua embarked on another
new enterprise, Slurpalicious, a food deliv-
ery service named by one of their sons. The
service is provided locally.
Her inn has two family rooms, where
kids have dedicated space to play and have
fun. She also wants to encourage adult
guests to interact with each other.
“It’s crazy that I wanted to create a space
where people would put away their phones
and devices and immerse themselves in all
the wonderful things there are to do and see
here. And with the history. I wasn’t sure
how people would react with the historic
furnishings and décor,” Yiu said. “But Asto-
ria’s past is so rich, I wanted people to step
back in time and appreciate it like I do.”
Near the Pier was fully booked over the
summer. Her enthusiasm for Astoria has not
diminished, nor has her husband’s.
columbiamemorial.org/having-a-baby
THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2021 // 7