Fire Hits Corona Landmark Hotel

A suspicious fire caused $30,000 damage to the 81-year-old landmark Victoria Hotel and its contents, a Fire Department spokesman said Monday.

The Saturday night blaze forced evacuation of the three-story hotel’s tenants, about two dozen of whom were lodged in a local motel by the American Red Cross, said Battalion Chief John Bloom.

Firefighters controlled the fire in less than an hour, Bloom said. “There was some extensive damage done to one apartment and to the upstairs hallway. . . . The third floor is definitely going to be shut down for a while so it can be repaired and refurbished.”

The Victoria, built in 1904 at the corner of East 6th and Victoria streets in central Corona, was once a posh way station for vacationers traveling between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. It now serves as a residential hotel.

No injuries to residents or firefighters were reported. Fire officials are still investigating the blaze, Bloom said, after preliminary findings of “no apparent accidental or natural cause.”