Groceteria.com

Is there a forum similar to this one for banks? I'm trying to recall the name of a particular bank (it's just idle curiosity, they don't have any of my money). It had at least two rather large branches which eventually became Great Westerns, one in Culver City on Culver Blvd across from the old Culver Theater, and the other in Alhambra on Valley just west of New Ave (if anyone here knows the name of it on this board, it would be Jeff :) They had a light blue sign. They briefly became something like "Unity Savings" or "United Savings" with a brown sign before being taken over by GW.

The Culver City branch is a Wamu now and the last time I was there the Alhambra branch was some kind of Asian establishment.

I know the building. It was United Bank for a long time. Today its empty, but at one point was a used car lot for Asian Luxury cars.

I'll send some names out:
Todai Bank
United California
Peoples Bank

God I cant remember.,

I don't know of a forum like this for banks, though I wouldn't mind finding one, since I'm interested in bank history, having been a banker.

There's a Wikipedia article on Great Western that lists some acquisitions that may jog your memory. Also, a lot of banks have a history or list of acquisitions on their websites, though they don't usually go down a couple of layers - in this case, the top layer would be WaMu, the second layer Great Western, and so on.

Occasionally, into at least the '70's, you may be able to get a hint from the building. I know of a former S&L in Portsmouth, VA that has a stained glass window that shows the name of the original institution, and Richmond has a few old banks here and there that still have their original names carved in stone on the buildings - there are Church Hill Bank, Mechanics & Merchants Bank, and Bank of Commerce & Trusts buildings like this, and those names had disappeared via merger at various times from the early 1920's to the early 1960's.

It's interesting to me to note that the use of a standard architectural prototype for bank branches really didn't occur too much around here until the mid 1960's and really didn't catch on until the early 1970's. There are some really nice old bank branches around here. Richmond is a pretty conservative place, and you really don't see a lot of architecturally interesting or unusual supermarkets from the 1950's and 1960's, but there was a lot of effort put into bank branches in that era to make them appear modern yet secure.

I suppose I'll have to do another website, but I really don't want to galavant around taking pictures of banks. That's asking for unwanted attention...

Banks and their mergers is something that has fascinated me too. Sadly, I only know about the Mid-Atlantic and vaguely about the Southeast (since many of their banks have penetrated into this region).

I assume it's not the same United Bank w/branches mainly in West Virginia and Ohio, but also some in Maryland and Virginia.

Hey Runchadrun...I used to have a savings account at the Alhambra branch years ago, they were called Prudential Savings.

My mother was a secretary at the Alhambra location in the late 1970's before I was born.

If this is what you're looking for...

Progressive Savings 2121 W Main St Alhambra, across the street from AHMC Alhambra Hospital. (Main/Poplar)

It later became Alhambra Mazda (before they moved to near Atlantic Blvd) sometime after 1983. This building is now Family Pontiac-GMC. An old Target is across the street, which is still there, recently renovated and expanded like all old Targets in southern California.

luckysaver

ps
If it is New/Valley, there is a "Tomato Bank" next to the bowling alley across the street from the old Crawford's/Market Basket/Vons (now a 99 Ranch operated "168 Market"/Savon-CVS).

By the way, Kroger is the owner of the Crawford shopping center, since it was a Market Basket at one time and they leased the supermarket portion to VONS.

The bank building was actually torn down towards the beginning of the year.