No Run for the Money
Some cynics see the line between the banking and casino industries blurring, given the uncertain state of banking today.
First Interstate’s Nevada bank blurred the line even more when it recently combined two branches in Las Vegas. After one branch was emptied, the office was leased to a new Roaring 20s-style casino for interviewing a flood of job applicants it was getting.
Trouble is, the First Interstate sign was still on the building--and some people get nervous when they see a line of people snaking out of a bank branch, especially one that has a “closed” sign on it.
One Las Vegas television station reported that it had received a number of calls from nervous people wondering if a bank run had started.
Graham McKenney, a spokesman for First Interstate’s Nevada unit, acknowledged that some of the calls reflect a general nervousness about the banking industry.
But he said he found the concerns somewhat unusual.
After all, he said, a number of the people in the line were wearing such things as garter belts and tap shoes--which should have served as a clear sign that something unusual was up.
Losing a Good Customer
Last month’s closure of the scandal-plagued Bank of Credit & Commerce International unexpectedly cost Charles Intriago more than $1,500 a year.
Intriago is a Miami lawyer and former prosecutor who publishes the “Money Laundering Alert” newsletter.
Some of the best stories the newsletter has been following involve laundering-related cases involving BCCI. The newsletter has dubbed the bank “Money Laundering Inc.” Intriago says BCCI officials even called him once to complain that he didn’t print enough non-BCCI news.
As it turns out, BCCI had five subscriptions to the newsletter, sent to executives in Los Angeles, New York, Florida and Great Britain. Needless to say, Intriago isn’t counting on any renewals.
“We’ve lost some business because of all of this,” he says.
It’s Close, Relatively Speaking
Southern California’s geography has already been squeezed by developers whose housing ads include those not-to-scale maps that make places like San Bernardino seem a mile or two east of Downtown Los Angeles.
Now Marina del Rey’s Doubletree Hotel is advertising that it is not only near beaches but the Getty Museum near Malibu and Beverly Hills’ Rodeo Drive as well.
Briefly . . .
Add to the list of cable television pitchmen the name of actor David Carradine, who is selling two exercise tapes called “David Carradine’s Kung Fu” and “David Carradine’s Tai Chi”. . .”Schwarzkopf” was already taken: The official U.S. Postal Service biography of Postmaster General Anthony M. Frank, who is pushing to increasingly automate the service, says he “hopes to be known as ‘General Bar Code’ by postal historians”. . . Time to punt: After six months of trying, San Francisco-based Continental Savings of America failed to sell its 14-foot by 50-foot photo of 49ers quarterback Joe Montana. It now plans to store it indefinitely in a vault.
