The bank as it looked from circa 1960 to 2009. The clock, over what once was and is now again the main entrance, continued to operate. This was a branch of Security Pacific Bank at some point, but I don't recall that it was used for anything but a furniture store since I arrived in South Pasadena in 1981.
In this photo, taken June 20, 2010, the restoration is complete, and the palm trees have been planted. 
The one thing they didn't get right in the restoration is the ATM machine, which was much more understated in the 1920s.
In 1920, the First National Bank building on the corner of Fair Oaks and Mission in South Pasadena looked like this. Notice the streetcar tracks in the middle of Fair Oaks:
A careful examination of the back of the building reveals that the stonework is a facade. I presume the original stonework was a facade as well. The folks at the bank say they will display a photo of the 1920 bank on their wall soon. Comerica is only using the front portion of the building. They plan to lease out the rear portion, although from the looks of the raised concrete slab and the concrete room in the center of the rear space, the lessee will have a lot of jack-hammering to do.
3 comments:
Well done, Earl. Guess the old-fashioned ATM's went the way of the old-fashioned CD rates.
They really did a good job, looks like.
Nice piece of work
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