New Cook’s Corner Is Around the Bend

Cook’s Corner is now somebody else’s. The venerable canyon tavern, a watering hole for canyon dwellers, bikers and yuppies alike, has been sold. And those who like their landmarks to stay the same can relax. A little.

The new owner, Frank de Luna, said Monday that he plans to keep the 42-year-old bar and grill pretty much the same, although he does plan to “improve it” by expanding the lunch menu, repainting the old sign and possibly turning it into a country-Western music hall--eventually.

And then there’s the 60,000-square-foot commercial center he’d like to build right behind it.

But some of the changes may be out of his control. Eventually, the

county plans to reroute Live Oak Canyon Road, which will go through the tavern property and force De Luna either to move Cook’s Corner or modify it.

“I’d like to keep it. It’s kind of a historic landmark,” De Luna said. “I want to keep it there until they make me tear it down or move it.”

De Luna, an Irvine land developer, bought Cook’s Corner, which was a World War II mess hall, from Novella Morales of Anaheim. The sale was final Nov. 30, De Luna said.

“It’s a nice-looking place. The first time I saw it was in the 1950s. . . . I’ve stopped in there for a beer or two through the years. I actually ride motorcycles,” he said.

De Luna is developing property in Silverado Canyon a few miles to the north, “and so I go by there a lot. I saw a sign, ‘For Sale by Owner,’ and I bought it,” he said.

He declined to reveal the sale price.

De Luna--or rather, his firm, Pathfinder Development Co.--also bought the 12 acres behind the bar and grill, located at the intersection of Live Oak Canyon and El Toro roads 6 miles northeast of El Toro.

De Luna hopes to develop that property, a hillside above the tavern, into a 60,000-square-foot commercial complex.

It will be at least a year before construction could begin, he said. The county is formulating a new specific plan for for the area, and de Luna’s plans are being considered.

Zoning Change Invalidated

Last year, another developer’s plan to build a 54,000-square-foot commercial complex on the corner opposite Cook’s Corner was invalidated by a Superior Court judge, who ruled that the county wrongly approved a zoning change for the property. The lawsuit was brought by a residents’ group opposed to the development.

A County Board of Supervisors resolution allows only one corner of the Live Oak Canyon-El Toro Road intersection to be developed commercially. The Cook’s Corner property is zoned commercial, while the other property, owned by Live Oak Ltd., is zoned agricultural, said Lynn Dosheery, chief of the land planning section with the county Environmental Management Agency’s planning department.

However, in formulating the Foothill-Trabuco Specific Plan, the county is considering allowing both corners to be developed commercially. The supervisors are expected to act on the plan next August.

In the meantime, the county is working on “conceptual plans” to realign Live Oak Canyon Road to improve the safety of the Y-shaped intersection at El Toro Road, said Steve Hogan, director of transportation programs for the EMA. While there are varying configurations, each would cut into the Cook’s Corner property.

Until the road plans firm up and their impact on the tavern becomes clear, de Luna plans no major changes at Cook’s Corner.

‘Cleaning It Up’

“We’re gradually cleaning it up, improving it. We’re going to put in a color TV so we can watch ball games,” he said. While the tavern is popular with motorcyclists on weekends, during the week a lot of construction workers from nearby housing tracts come in for sandwiches and drinks, he said.

“We’re going to increase the lunch menu, just overall improve the image and traffic in the place,” he said.

Tavern manager Lois Keener said the Cook’s Corner regulars are pleased to hear that de Luna plans to keep the tavern open.

“Everybody was afraid it would be a big change, that they’d tear it down, and they’re not,” she said. “Everybody’s real happy to hear that.”

Asked whether his improvements to the tavern are an effort to “yuppify” it for the new residents moving into the area, de Luna replied:

“No. Well, maybe a little. But we don’t want to ruin it.”