Keeping Cool Under Fire
After a nuclear war, soldiers would find their radiation-protective clothing uncomfortably hot. Not to worry, the military has an answer.
The Air Force has just awarded Thermacor, a Newbury Park firm, a $478,725 contract to develop an air conditioner for use in the protective suits. Under a small business contract, Thermacor will build a reusable cooling unit that operates on the same principle as a household refrigerator but weighs only a few pounds.
Of course, the cooling systems would be equally useful in chemical or biological warfare. Other markets include the need for body cooling in plastic surgery. “Who knows, golfers . . . may one day want cooling clothes when it gets hot,” a Thermacor official surmised.
Being a Texan Didn’t Help
This has to hurt a Texas native like Carl Reichardt, the boss at Wells Fargo.
It seems employees at First RepublicBank in Dallas ranked his San Francisco bank as the least attractive possible buyer for their troubled institution, even a notch below those slickers from Citicorp in New York.
“People were scared to death that it was going to be Wells Fargo,” a First Republic executive said. “They knew Reichardt’s reputation for chopping jobs.”
The winner--if that’s the word for a company taking over a bank in Texas these days--was North Carolina’s NCNB Corp., which won some hearts by having a yellow rose on each employee’s desk the Monday after the July 29 acquisition. It’s a safe bet Reichardt would not have thought of that.
New Charge in AIDS Fight
A new credit card to be test marketed to Los Angeles residents in the next few weeks will divert part of its revenue to fighting AIDS.
The new card will donate $5 of every $25 membership fee and 25 cents of every $100 charged on accounts to the Los Angeles-based American Foundation for AIDS Research, the largest nonprofit organization funding research on that disease. The foundation hopes to raise up to $50,000 during the first six months.
Rates on the card, to be issued by Empire of America Federal Savings Bank, based in Buffalo, N.Y., with offices in California, will be either 13.9% or 16.9%, depending upon the type of account.
He’s There, So He’s Asked
Who’s L.A.’s media darling? Jay Goldinger.
Whether the subject is stocks, bonds or the dollar, the press keeps calling Goldinger, a broker at Capital Insight in Beverly Hills. He surely is the most quoted analyst in California.
Since May, 1987, Associated Press has quoted him 49 times. Not to mention the 20 times in USA Today, 13 in the New York Times--and, yes, 11 in this paper.
Goldinger, 34, credits his hours, typically 5 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. “A lot of times I get calls from the New York Times and Associated Press, they’re on deadline and I’m the only guy available.” Many West Coast brokers go home around 2 p.m., after U.S. exchanges close.
Goldinger blames the hours on his inefficiency, not a desire to see his name in print. And how prescient is he? “As much as people quoted a lot may be seen as gurus, I don’t have any more answers than anybody else. I make as many mistakes as anybody else.”
Bloomie’s Loves California
Bloomingdale’s is paying homage to California. The state’s designers and their clothing will be the theme of its seven-week spring and summer promotion beginning in April.
“It will feature lots of wonderful, fresh, wholesome, sunny things,” a spokeswoman said, “all that you think of when you think of California.” Among the designers Bloomie’s hopes will participate are Bob Mackie, Carole Little, Georges Marciano, Leon Max, Anne Cole and Nancy Heller. This is on top of last spring’s promotional choice: Hollywood. “We happen to be in love with California,” the spokeswoman said.
Perhaps. But so far the renowned 17-store chain hasn’t picked a site for its first store in the state. New owner Robert Campeau, the Toronto developer, has hinted that the chain might pick Los Angeles, San Francisco or San Diego as part of its planned expansion.
