How Santa Cruz’s Bank of Italy Turned a New Leaf

The Santa Cruz downtown New Leaf  Community Market occupies the former Bank of Italy. Photo: Jim Whitehead/Mobile Ranger
The Santa Cruz downtown New Leaf Community Market at 1134 Pacific Avenue, occupies the former Bank of Italy. Photo: Jim Whitehead/Mobile Ranger

Ever wonder why the New Leaf Market says “Bank of Italy” over the front door? The downtown New Leaf Market has found its home in an old bank at Soquel and Pacific for twenty years now. As a local history enthusiast, I am delighted that the grocery store left the original name on the building.

Many locals remember that Bank of America was here until the 1980s. I remember the tellers at this bank counting money back to you through a marble-framed window, and I imagined executives on the mezzanine scrutinizing the scruffy college student trying to cash a financial aid check. So when was it the Bank of Italy?

1134 Pacific Avenue. The building was built in 1929 for the Bank of Italy in the Zig-Zag Moderne style (an off shoot of Art Deco). Here, two hermes-like figures must have been designed to seem like "gods of commerce," protecting the bank. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger
1134 Pacific Avenue. The building was built in 1929 for the Bank of Italy in the Zig-Zag Moderne style (an off shoot of Art Deco). Here, two impressive Olympic God-like figures must have been designed to seem like they were protecting the bank. Photo: Julia Gaudinski/Mobile Ranger

Bank of America’s roots are in San Francisco’s Bank of Italy founded in 1904 by immigrant A. P. Giannini. His bank in North Beach provided banking services to that neighborhood’s working classes, mostly to his Italian neighbors. In the next few decades the Bank of Italy expanded with branches throughout California, buying the bank of Watsonville in 1923 and opening a Santa Cruz branch in an existing building downtown. A few years later, the bank announced that it would build a “modern bank” at Pacific and Soquel.

Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, 1930. The Bank of Italy is the green building on the right at the corner of Soquel and Pacific. The distinctive red brick Trust Building is the street. In the distance, the Palomar and IOOF building with its clock tower. On the left, the Hihn building, and the New Santa Cruz Theatre neon in the distance.  Image: Linda Rosewood postcard collection
Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz, 1930. The Bank of Italy is the building on the right at the corner of Soquel and Pacific just past the cinema marquee. The distinctive red brick building is the Trust Building. In the distance, is the Palomar and IOOF building with its clock tower. On the left, the Hihn building, and the New Santa Cruz Theatre in the distance. Image: Linda Rosewood postcard collection

In October 1929, the Santa Cruz Evening News reporter was given a tour before opening day and wrote:

Fine Marble Used

“The best and the most expensive of the world marbles are being used in the building to give it a beautiful effect. The lobby of the bank will be 80 x 18 feet in size with a low grill facing along the north side and east end. The body of the partitions in this portion of the bank will be built of pink Tennessee marble, with borders of black and gold Belgium marble. Counterfacings and top of the partitions are composed of Skyros Greacian [sic] marble. … On the floor of the lobby will be placed round top marble check tables with carved pedestal which will depict certain events of early California history. In addition to these there will be two built in settees and a drinking fountain.”

Five thousand people attended the grand opening of Santa Cruz’s new Bank of Italy, which included live chamber music and free flowers for the ladies. One of the attendees was J. A Brown, who happened to be the last depositor at the old location, and the first depositor in the new location. It is his bulb ranch which is now Brown Ranch Marketplace in Capitola, and the location of the county’s first Trader Joe’s.

Art Deco statuary on the old Bank of Italy Building. The cornucopia is appropriate for a bank and a food market! Photo: Jim Whitehead/Mobile Ranger
Art Deco statuary on the old Bank of Italy Building. Serendipitously, the cornucopia is appropriate for both a bank and a food market. Photo: Jim Whitehead/Mobile Ranger

When the bank opened, and as far as I can tell, nobody clutched their pearls about big naked male bodies or god knows what historically correct art was carved into the pedestals of those check tables. Today, on the outside walls of the building, the robust gods of commerce remain, blessing the healthy enterprise of local agriculture, and gazing down on the scruffy, the immigrant, and everyone.

  1. Sources

    • New Bank of Italy to be Occupied in October, Santa Cruz Evening News, Tuesday, Oct 1, 1929.
    • The Sidewalk Companion to Santa Cruz Architecture, by John Leighton Chase, edited by Judith Steen. The Museum of Art and History, 2005.
    • 5000 Attend Open House by Bank of Italy, Santa Cruz Evening News, Monday, Nov 4, 1929.

About The Author

Linda Rosewood

Linda Rosewood loves to research Santa Cruz history and has lived in downtown Santa Cruz for over 30 years. She loves to walk everywhere; that way she can find the next interesting local landmark to research. She posts her discoveries at her blog, History Right Here.

Related posts

1 Comment

Leave a Reply to Gayle Peter-Rorvik Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *