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#75265
11/16/2015 09:46 PM
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Joined: Dec 2005
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Just had our New Year's Celebrations cancelled by TCI. The resort has been sold and will open non nudist in February! I'm speechless! We never made it there! :-(
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Wow, never been there either, but it is seriously SAD how many c/o resorts are closing!!!
Carol Hill
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Sad indeed...............
Best wishes to Tom and Mary Clare. We enjoyed our visits to TCI.
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Never been but never heard a bad word about TCI. It just goes to show that if you want these places to stay open you have to patronize them.
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#75269
11/17/2015 10:59 AM
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Joined: Sep 2004
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I don't think it was so much that it wasn't patronized but was sold because Tom and Mary Clare wanted to retire. Each and every time we visited, and we visited for the day, a couple days, weekends and as long as a week or more, TCI was always 3/4's full and most times more so when you take into account the day use traffic. They had been talking about selling TCI for some time, even more so in the past couple of years. Tom's always said, "Terra Cotta is always for sale at the right price," I it seems he got what he needed to now enjoy their retirement. I just think most of us didn't think it would happen so suddenly. Only thing I think most of his loyal guests would have appreciated was a bit more of a warning that the serious possibility of a sale was on the horizon and not just idle talk, leaving most frequent visitors to TCI thinking that they had a bit more time enjoying this great place. It is a shame that it will go textile. It leaves two options for nudists in Palm Springs ... Desert Sun and Living Waters Spa. It will be interesting to see which of those two all of the Terra Cotta visitors flock to. We wish Tom and Mary Clare the very best in retirement and thank them for providing us this slice of paradise in our own backyard to visit, stay and meet our closest friends for the last 17 years we've been visiting. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/dine.gif" alt="" />
Last edited by FireProf; 11/17/2015 11:01 AM.
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This is sad news indeed. We loved TCI and were planning a return trip in June. Guess we have to book some place else. We do we Tom and Mary Clare the best in their next adventure. If we had the money we would have bought TCI in a heartbeat and kept it nude. We like DSR, might give Living waters a try.
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FireProf said:Only thing I think most of his loyal guests would have appreciated was a bit more of a warning that the serious possibility of a sale was on the horizon and not just idle talk, leaving most frequent visitors to TCI thinking that they had a bit more time enjoying this great place. Many years ago I worked as a business opportunity broker (just long enough to find out I wasn't very good at it), and I can tell you that all business sales are done under the cloak of secrecy. In this case, TCI was sold six days before the announcement was even made. While I'm disappointed, I used to wonder just how profitable a 17-unit motel really was. They worked long hours there, and I suspect that when you took the long hours into consideration, they were probably making minimum wage.
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Thanks for the nice post Andy. This is Tom Mulhall. Mary Clare and I were the owners of The Terra Cotta Inn. If any one wants to talk to us, you can call 1-760-322-6059 and get the correct answera. Ask for Tom.
Terra Cotta Inn was a fun business. But, it is still a business. We were not married to it. It was not our life (even though we worked 70-80hr weeks).
We wanted to enjoy life before it was too late. I think we proved that nudists and can open a nudist resort. Be very successful like textile businesses, earn a fun livelihood, and then sell it (at a profit) when you are ready to retire. We owned TCI 21 years.
We've had sales contracts from 4 other nudist couples. 2 of them chickened out literally days before closing. The other 2 never could put together partnerships for financing.
The first contract to sell TCI was 10 years ago. We could never say we were close to selling as we would have had people make mistakes and say we were sold 10 years ago. That's the nature of rumors. So we told no one until the deal closed and we were never 100% sure.
TCI is a historic property. It was built by Albert Frey who is a very famous mid-century modernism architect. The couple who bought our resort are an architect and Wall Street Asset Manager. They intend to market to people that like historic properties. They are very nice people.
They will go back to the original name of our resort, The Monkey Tree. So if you know textiles, you can mention The Monkey Tree to stay at.
Sadly they like bathing suits better than birthday suits.
Now on a positive note, the new owners are smart (besides nice) and they have talked with our guests, listened to me and Patty. They have decided for 4 weeks in July, from July 5th to 31st, it will be TCI reunion month and WILL BE NUDIST then. Mary Clare and I will be guest hosts. We are already about 60% booked for those 4 weeks already. For info call 760-322-6059.
Now we will have time to travel and hope to see everyone at other nudist places.
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It was with a very heavy heart that I read Tom's confirming email after seeing the post here. We have had many wonderful stays at TC over the years and will cherish our great memories. My wife making a mad dash to the bedroom when Tom knocked on the front door because she was "nekked".
Her strenuous objection to our first visit, only to insist we stay over a few more days. Making new friends around the pool and seeing some on repeat visits. Tom journeying out from the office, white tennis shoes, white socks, black bow tie, to serve wine and strawberries. The collection of canines from Godiva forward.
We wish Tom and Mary Clare the very best. They gave us some very special times over the years.
Perhaps now, with the freedom of retirement (knowing Tom lots of $$$$ to), they will have the inclination to visit St Martin/Club O in the Fall and spend time with us and other TC patrons.
Best wishes and happy trails.
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Joined: Jun 2005
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Lots of CO places are closing every year, many well known and seem to be popular. Hopefully Club O will remain unchanged for the most part, but I'm thinking we won't have too many more years to enjoy it.
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tcotta said:
Thanks for the nice post Andy. This is Tom Mulhall. Mary Clare and I were the owners of The Terra Cotta Inn. If any one wants to talk to us, you can call 1-760-322-6059 and get the correct answera. Ask for Tom.
Terra Cotta Inn was a fun business. But, it is still a business. We were not married to it. It was not our life (even though we worked 70-80hr weeks).
We wanted to enjoy life before it was too late. I think we proved that nudists and can open a nudist resort. Be very successful like textile businesses, earn a fun livelihood, and then sell it (at a profit) when you are ready to retire. We owned TCI 21 years.
We've had sales contracts from 4 other nudist couples. 2 of them chickened out literally days before closing. The other 2 never could put together partnerships for financing.
The first contract to sell TCI was 10 years ago. We could never say we were close to selling as we would have had people make mistakes and say we were sold 10 years ago. That's the nature of rumors. So we told no one until the deal closed and we were never 100% sure.
TCI is a historic property. It was built by Albert Frey who is a very famous mid-century modernism architect. The couple who bought our resort are an architect and Wall Street Asset Manager. They intend to market to people that like historic properties. They are very nice people.
They will go back to the original name of our resort, The Monkey Tree. So if you know textiles, you can mention The Monkey Tree to stay at.
Sadly they like bathing suits better than birthday suits.
Now on a positive note, the new owners are smart (besides nice) and they have talked with our guests, listened to me and Patty. They have decided for 4 weeks in July, from July 5th to 31st, it will be TCI reunion month and WILL BE NUDIST then. Mary Clare and I will be guest hosts. We are already about 60% booked for those 4 weeks already. For info call 760-322-6059.
Now we will have time to travel and hope to see everyone at other nudist places. Not being in business ... I now understand the reasons behind not telling anyone about the impending sale of our favorite place to visit! We have great, great memories of times at TCI and it is the place where we met our closest, lifelong friends. It's the place where my wife sunk her teeth into social nudism and I can't tell you how much TCI was the foundation for that journey. We will miss going to TCI but we couldn't expect Tom and Mary Clare to provide us this place forever. They have every right to enjoy their time together and retirement. And ... from one nudist couple to all the others, We'll most likely visit the Monkey Tree to visit and harass Patty! Hope to see Tom and Mary Clare during our travels. They've been the best of hosts, ambassadors of nudism and most of all ... good friends! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Wink.gif" alt="" />
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Joined: Mar 2001
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Thanks to Tom and Mary Clare for a great place and we wish them well in the future. Yes, maybe they will come to Club Orient and visit many of us 
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Hey Tom: You need not apologize or justify to the gripers about selling TCI. You guys deserved to be rewarded for the 21 years you put in there. TCI was a unique and wonderful retreat, a true desert oasis. We made many trips there in the 1990s and have fond memories of them all. Alas, job changes and eventual retirements and relocations prevented our return after the early 2000s. None the less, you and Mary Claire ran a great inn. All the very best and happy holidays 2016 to you both from Mike and Patty from Huntington Beach.
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Joined: Apr 2014
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Well they are getting great reviews so hopefully you got a percentage agreement. Glad you did what you loved and made a choice to get better in your life.
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