Crocker National Bank was a major California financial institution headquartered in San Francisco, acquired by and merged into Wells Fargo Bank in 1986. Its visual identity, particularly the logo displayed on branch signs and the Crocker Center tower in Los Angeles, remained a recognizable part of the city’s skyline even after the bank’s disappearance.
Design and History
The Crocker Bank logo was prominently displayed on branch signage throughout the 1970s [1]. The mark also appeared on the 54-story Crocker Center tower at 333 S. Grand Ave. in downtown Los Angeles, where it was coated with gold leaf [2].
In the early 1970s, Crocker undertook an effort to modernize its public image. Around 1970, the bank asked its advertising agency to brighten its image, leading to a campaign that ended with a flash to the Crocker Bank logo [3]. The bank also promoted its changes with publicity stunts, including a banner reading “Crocker’s changing banking” on a firetruck driving through Los Angeles streets [4].
Following Wells Fargo’s acquisition of Crocker in 1986, the new owner promised to remove the Crocker logos from the Crocker Center tower. However, the replacement was delayed for months, as red granite slabs from Finland intended to replace the panels bearing the Crocker logo were still being polished in Italy [5]. The Community Redevelopment Agency, which favored distinctive logos over plain name signs, expressed regret at losing the Crocker mark, calling it a “good symbol” [2].
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