Crocker National Bank

Logo of the Crocker Bank prior to its merger with Wells Fargo Bank

Crocker National Bank was a United States bank headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was acquired by and merged into Wells Fargo Bank in 1986.

History[]

The bank traces its history to the in San Francisco. Charles Crocker, who was one of The Big Four of the Central Pacific Railroad and who constructed America's First Transcontinental Railroad, acquired a controlling interest in Woolworth for his son William Henry Crocker. The bank was renamed Crocker Woolworth National Bank, later Crocker National Bank.

Crocker National merged with the First National Bank of San Francisco, founded by James D. Phelan, in 1925 to form Crocker First National Bank.^[1]

In 1956, Crocker First National Bank merged with the Anglo California National Bank (established by Herbert Fleishhacker) to form Crocker-Anglo Bank.^[1] In 1963, Crocker-Anglo Bank later merged with Los Angeles' Citizens National Bank, to become Crocker-Citizens Bank. and later, Crocker Bank.

Crocker Bank building, Los Angeles

Picture of the Crocker Bank logo, as shown on a bank branch sign in the 1970s

In the 1970s and early 1980s, Crocker cultivated a reputation for customer service and convenience, including expanded hours. As a part of its promotional campaign, the bank gave "Crocker" Spaniel plush toys to parents who opened an account in the early 1980s. It was also one of the first California banks to offer automated teller machine service. One early television commercial showed a young businessman confidently using the machine, while speaking to it as if it were a person. He was then followed by an elderly woman approaching it for the first time, and greeting it with a very uncertain "Hello."

Crocker National Bank was purchased by the British financial institution Midland Bank in 1981, but after a series of financial losses it was sold on to Wells Fargo Bank in 1986. Crocker's executive vice president and two-thirds of the top 70 executives lost their jobs because of the merger.^[2]

A Carmichael, California branch of the bank was robbed by several members of the Symbionese Liberation Army on April 21, 1975. A 42-year-old woman named Myrna Opsahl was killed during the robbery when SLA member Emily Harris fired her shotgun.

In the early 1970s Crocker ran a series of television commercials produced by Hal Riney, featuring a commissioned song "We've Only Just Begun," written by Paul Williams and Roger Nichols. This was later re-recorded by The Carpenters and sold as a single: it became the duo's signature song. The ads showed three pivotal moments in a young couple's life: their wedding, a husband's first day at a new job, and the first home move for a family with a small boy. The commercials ended with the tag line "You've got a long way to go. We'd like to help you get there. The Crocker Bank."

Until January 2016 Wells maintained the Crocker name as a current federally registered trademark using its "Crocker Office Branch" at 1 Montgomery St. San Francisco, California in a wall display of the Crocker Bank history.

In popular culture[]

Scott Adams worked at Crocker during his first years in the business world.^[3] It is said to have inspired the evil Bank of Ethel in Adams' Dilbert comic strip.

A Crocker Bank sign appears in the movie Death Wish 2 as Paul Kersey (Charles Bronson) is trying to get home from the Mental Hospital murder (1:23:27). Another sign appears in the Clint Eastwood movie Sudden Impact (47:02) as well as the film Koyaanisqatsi during "The Grid" sequence (48:55).

References[]

• James Sterngold (January 17, 2002). "4 Former Radicals Are Charged In 1975 Killing in Bank Robbery". The New York Times. Retrieved 1 February 2011.

External links[]

• 1970 famous wedding commercial featuring the song "We've Only Just Begun"
• Nightclub opens in a former Crocker branch: Crocker Club
• LA Times report on Crocker Bank history
• Picture of the ornate lobby at Crocker Bank, Montgomery and Post Streets, San Francisco