Guests share in rebirth of Hotel Temecula

BY Ken Cable

Ken Cable

We drove through the gate of the old Hotel Temecula at 4:30 on the afternoon of February 12 as invited guests of its new hoteliers, Christine Geer and Richard Beck, prominent attorneys based in Canyon Lake and new owners of this venerable old building.

As we drove in, we immediately spotted the Old West cow-camp fires burning beneath cast-iron pots and Dutch ovens arrayed inside a rough circle of hay bales. In the pots was an excellent dinner of pot-roast, potatoes, stewed carrots and biscuits to be served in the hotel dining room later that evening. The dinner was being prepared by camp cooks.

Richard greeted us with a wave of his hand as we entered and directed us to parking. Walking with us to the hotel, he pointed out some of the old property landmarks. A battered old house trailer – with bars on the windows and door – housed illegal immigrants apprehended and held for Immigration authorities in those long ago years. Further up the road stood an equipment shed housing, among other artifacts, a horse-drawn buggy, the kind that are staple props of old western movies.

New owners Chris and Richard Beck sit in front of Hotel Temecula as it looks today.

Richard then set us free to explore this wonderful property, probing into and around several out-buildings housing the memories of Temecula’s early days. We were among the first guests welcomed to the rebirth of this venerable Temecula landmark.

This was the day Hotel Temecula reopened for business, awakening after a long time in repose while it served as a residence for its former owners. Richard and Chris purchased the old hotel that was an early-day stop for travelers passing through Temecula and planned its rebirth. The guests this night were invited to be the first to witness its new christening.

After renovating the rooms and service areas on the top floor, they invited a list of guests from the local writer’s world to be the first to stay in rooms carefully refurbished to reflect the elegance of those early days. All of the renovated guest rooms were on the second floor. Vintage beds were replaced with new ones; original furniture still served the occupants.

As Dorothy and I wandered among the old buildings, seeing their contents as they were left long years ago, it reminded us of our many travels in the past to places where we poked into the lives of people who once lived there.

In one room, stacks of papers, photos, paintings, records and a typewriter sitting on a period desk identified it as a working office in which extensive artifacts of the owner’s life were stored.

As the sun settled behind the mountains, lights around the property popped on and guests settled at picnic benches under an arbor laced with the leafless vines of a huge multi-trunked wisteria tree, a recorded icon of old Temecula.

A cowboy minstrel strolled among us, alternately playing period music on his guitar and violin as wine was poured, new acquaintances made and stories exchanged; then we were called to dinner.

The long table in the hotel dining room was set beneath period chandeliers; a sideboard carried bottles of local wines. In very short order everyone was seated and dinner was served. It was then the presentations began. Each guest was asked to come prepared to talk about their knowledge of Temecula – the talks could either be personal experiences or a fictional tale – so long as they were about the city’s history and their part in it.

And so it went around the table; each of the guests extemporaneously telling their story of Temecula and their part in each presentation (except for the fictional story, which the author read).

Christine, serving as master of ceremonies, spoke of her and Richard’s dreams for their new challenge. Hotel Temecula would not serve as way station for casual travelers.  It would instead offer itself for special events – one or two-night stays for special occasions. She acknowledged that she and Richard had much work to do to achieve their goal, but, as Richard says, “We are hard workers and we love it.”

Each guest was assigned a room for the night with the promise of coffee in the morning and a walking tour of Old Town Temecula if they wanted one.

As we drove away, we glanced back at the old hotel.  It was good to see it brimming with new life.

To read more about the rebirth of Hotel Temecula, see the February 6 issue of The Friday Flyer.