‘LAST REBEL OUTPOST’ : Progress Creeping Up on Cook’s Corner, an Old-Time Roadhouse in the Canyons

One look at Cook’s Corner, and you know it’s been through a lot. It looks like a weathered World War II mess hall (it is) moved up El Toro Road to the canyons (it was) and turned into a beer-and-burger bar for whoever wanders by (it is).

It’s the kind of place that is proud of its clutter (“It’s not sterile here, you know?” said the cook); that has a sign on the door reading “No Firearms”; that has this note tacked to its bulletin board:

LOST DOG

3 legs, blind in left eye, missing right ear, tail broken, recently castrated, answers to the name of Lucky.

During its 56-year history, its clientele has included poachers and Polish royalty, cowboys and miners. Nowadays bikers are plentiful there, having discovered the bar as an accommodating watering hole during their weekend motorcycle caravans.

“A great many more prominent Orange Countians have visited Cook’s Corner over the years than would acknowledge it,” author and historian Jim Sleeper said. “It’s the last real breath of mountain atmosphere left in this area, mainly because it’s the last rebel outpost left in the county.”

But nowadays there are a lot more construction workers dropping by, reminding everyone of what is going on in Aliso and Live Oak and Trabuco canyons. The country there is being soaked up by suburban developments like water by a sponge.

And to accommodate the new residents’ mobility, the county may-- may, they emphasize--have to put a road through the bar at Cook’s Corner.

Will Cook’s Corner, which over the years survived flood and fire, succumb to a tide of gentrification?

To Randy, one of the weekend bikers standing outside the bar, the answer is important: “(Bleep), I hope not,” he said. “(Bleep), this is the only place in this whole (bleeping) county that’s worth a (bleep).”

“I don’t think they’ll do it,” said Randy’s girlfriend, whose name is none of our business. “I don’t know why, I just think this place will always be here.”

Possibly, but there is a strong tide running against it at present.

To start with, the owner wants to develop or sell the property.

Novella Morales of Anaheim, who bought the 12-acre Cook’s Corner property in 1979, soon afterward had it zoned commercial and then submitted a development plan to the county that would have eliminated Cook’s Corner. She withdrew the plan, however, and has operated the bar in the meantime.

She said the bar is profitable. She has developed an affection for the place, she said, but six months ago a for-sale sign went up on the property.

“I just bought the property to hold onto until we could develop it,” she said in an interview. “We didn’t buy it to get into the bar business.”

Shopping Center Planned

But while Morales’ plans to develop have been slowed or halted altogether, plans to build a shopping center across Live Oak Canyon Road from the bar are progressing.

Live Oak Limited has zoning and plan approval from the county Planning Commission and expects Board of Supervisors approval to follow. Construction of its first phase--25,000 square feet of retail commercial stores and a serve-yourself gas station--should begin by mid-1989, a spokesman said.

Market studies conclude that the new population of what was once back country easily will support such a shopping center, said W. Dean Brown, planner for the Live Oak Limited owners.

Brown, who lives in nearby Modjeska Canyon, said he likes Cook’s Corner: “It’s a social institution in Orange County.”

But from a development point of view, “Would you leave a biker bar there if you were going to build a brand new commercial center?” Brown asked.

A Possible Answer

Enter the county with the possible answer.

Because of development in the general area, the county is launching a study of whether Live Oak Canyon Road should be changed to more safely handle the increased traffic.

The road now curves past Cook’s Corner and the Live Oak Limited property to meet El Toro Road. The roads meet at an unsafe angle and they would be safer if converted to the typical “T” intersection, county engineers say.

To accomplish that, the road would have to be rerouted slightly--potentially right through Cook’s Corner’s bar and pool room.

The report on alternatives won’t be ready for about a year, according to county transportation authorities.

But before then, the county Board of Supervisors will have a say, if a somewhat indirect one, in what happens to Cook’s Corner.

In 1980, the board declared the intersection to be so environmentally important--the “front door” to Live Oak and Trabuco canyons--that only one corner would be permitted for commercial development.

No Bids So Far

So far, no one representing the Cook’s Corner property has approached the county to bid for that honor. Live Oak Limited, however, has progressed to a point just short of final approval and has the backing of the county staff and county Planning Commission.

If supervisors reaffirm that only one commercial development belongs at that intersection and award it to Live Oak Limited, Cook’s Corner’s commercial zoning almost certainly will be revoked.

So what room is there for the Cook’s Corner optimist?

A little.

A source in the county Transportation Programs Division, who requested anonymity, said there is a significant chance that Live Oak Canyon Road will be left alone rather than be rerouted through the bar.

Such a road project would require an environmental impact study, which is bound to note the sensitivity of Aliso Creek, whose waters run (now and then) at Cook’s Corner’s doorstep. State Fish and Game officials might have a good deal to say about converting the creek into an underground pipeline, the source said.

Also, very steep slopes behind the bar, their rock outcroppings containing some marine fossils, old native trees and the native creek-side vegetation would also be considered.

If Live Oak Limited wins the contest for the commercial zoning and Cook’s Corner loses its commercial zoning, that would be the best thing that could happen to lovers of the bar, one county planning source said.

Cook’s Corner, since it already is established as a business, could continue to operate indefinitely--as long as it was not significantly altered. That would be a strong inducement to preserve its back-country status quo, even if sold to other owners, the source said.

“This intersection is right at the doorstep of the Trabuco community,” said a supervisorial aide for that district. “It’s a very significant front door, and we want whatever is there to be sensitive to that.”

“Well, I can’t speak for the county-come-latelies,” said Sleeper, himself a far-back-in-the-canyons resident. “Certainly the established residents would like to see Cook’s Corner preserved as a memento of the past.

“The real questions is, do we really need a gas station more than we need a bar? Cook’s Corner is the last place you can get a cold beer until you reach Trabuco Oaks, and that’s easily four miles.”