Cook's Corner

Cook's Corner is a Southern California bar built in 1884 that is popular with motorcyclists. It is located near Silverado in Trabuco Canyon, Orange County, California.

History

The building is named for Andrew Jackson Cook, a merchant who acquired 190 acres (77 ha) of land in the South Orange County area. The building was constructed not long after, in 1884. In 1926, Cook's son, Earl Jack "E.J." Cook, converted the structure into a restaurant meant to supply food to miners and local ranchers. Seven years later, after the end of the Prohibition period, alcohol began being sold again, and Cook's was converted into a bar. The Cook family sold Cook's, which included the bar, the Cook's family house, and about 40 acres of land to two owners, Victor Villa and Volker Streicek, of the Santa Ana, California based motorcycle accessories company Cheat'ah Engineering in 1975. The Cook family purchased a ranch in Montana and moved out of Southern California. Volker and Victor had founded Cheat'ah Engineering in 1969, along with Ron Rondeau. They purchased Cook's as an investment, but also as a place where motorcycle clubs could gather in peace. Volker and Victor were proud of the fact that Cook's was a place to party with very few fights between motorcycle clubs and patrons. The owners established a policy where no motorcycle club colors were allowed at Cook's. Cook's became one of the more famous social places for bikers in Southern California. Volker and his wife Shirley ran the bar in the late 70's, before moving to Colorado. Victor and Volker sold Cook's in the 1980s. Volker died on March 29, 2011 in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. Victor still lives in Southern California.

Thomas Cook Group

Thomas Cook Group plc is a British global travel company listed on the London Stock Exchange. It was formed on 19 June 2007 by the merger of Thomas Cook AG, itself the successor to Thomas Cook & Son, and MyTravel Group plc. It is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.

At the time of the merger, 52% of the shares in the new company were held by the German mail-order and department store company Arcandor (the former owner of Thomas Cook AG) and 48% owned by the shareholders of MyTravel Group. Arcandor filed for bankruptcy in June 2009, and its shares in Thomas Cook were sold in September 2009.

The group owns a number of tour operators, as well as charter airlines based in the United Kingdom, Belgium and Scandinavia. Thomas Cook also owns the scheduled airline Condor and booking website Hotels4u.

History

Formation

In February 2007, it was announced that the Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc were to merge. The companies announced they expected to make savings of over £75 million a year, following the integration of both businesses. Under the terms of the merger, the owners of Thomas Cook AG, KarstadtQuelle (later Arcandor), owned 52% of the new group. The shareholders of MyTravel Group owned the remaining 48% share. The merger was completed in June 2007, and took place through the formation of 'NewCo' which effectively purchased MyTravel and Thomas Cook and was then listed on the London Stock Exchange under the name of Thomas Cook Group plc.