Banker Says: I’ll Take Manhattan

35

Last week Page 3 reported on the travails of K-Fed Bancorp, the holding company for Kaiser Federal Bank that is considering changing its name because of an unfortunate similarity with a well-known Hollywood ex.

By contrast, the Bank of Manhattan is a paragon of serendipity.

It’s the kind of name that you’d think would’ve been around for a while at least that’s what Kyle Ransford thought when he decided to start a bank in 2007.

Ransford, who heads investment company Cardinal Real Estate Investments, wanted a name that sounded impressive and referenced Manhattan Beach, where he lives and does business. He figured Bank of Manhattan already existed, so at first he didn’t try to secure the name, but other choices didn’t pan out.

“I was talking to my attorney and was frustrated and she said, ‘How about Bank of Manhattan?’ I said I was sure someone had it,” said Ransford. “She checked and she said it was available and I told her to take it right then.”

Ransford secured the name in February 2007 and the community bank opened a retail location in El Segundo in August. Soon after, Ransford got calls from parties who wanted to buy it. On a Manhattan trip, he met with a lawyer who said a client would pay $1 million for it.

“I told him I’d take the bet that I’m going to make more than $1 million off it,” said Ransford, non-executive chairman of the bank.


Rough Start

Talk about an inauspicious beginning.

As he began to give an update on the $1 billion L.A. Live project next to the Staples Center, AEG President Tim Leiweke told a packed house at a downtown event last week how he and a couple other AEG execs were held up while scouting the neighborhood.

“We were touring the site several years back and we got mugged right here,” said Leiweke, as he pointed to a red box on an aerial map during the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. 2008 Economic Forecast. “That was a great beginning to the project.”

Leiweke said he had not publicly disclosed the mugging before because he didn’t want to embarrass then-Mayor James Hahn or then-Police Chief Bernard Parks. The good news: “It shows just how far we’ve come in transforming the area.”


Nonagenarian Feat

How does a Hollywood PR man celebrate his 90th birthday? With a publicity stunt, of course.

Julian Meyers who once served as publicist for Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck and Robert Wagner planned to run 90 miles from San Diego to Los Angeles to promote AmigoDay, a non-profit project that encourages people to make new friends. The trek was to start Feb. 22 and will end March 2 with the Los Angeles Marathon’s 5K race.

“Running is the best medicine,” explained Meyers, who still owns his namesake PR agency and who still runs regularly and even competes in some senior events.


Staff reporters Howard Fine and Joel Russell contributed to this column. Daniel Miller can be reached at

[email protected]

.