It’s not easy becoming manager of First Bank in Malibu. Just ask Houri Kharazi, current manager of the Malibu branch of the largest privately owned bank operating out of 217 locations in five different states.
“I started [working] in April 1979 with Crocker National Bank as a book keeper, and then as a teller,” Kharazi said. “I worked my way up and have been a manager for over 10 years.”
The Malibu location has been in operation since September of 1999, and has seen Kharazi as its only manager.
“I truly enjoy my job and love interacting with my customers and their daily lives,” she said. “It’s hardest when I lose a customer, not in the way of leaving the bank, but by death. Especially because Malibu is such a tight knit community where everyone knows everyone, which is great.”
Nine years spent in Malibu is enough time to witness its many natural disasters. With all the fires that took place this year, and the ever-present threat of another looming overhead at the start of each arid Southern California day, it can become difficult to distinguish which inferno caused what damage unless one has witnessed the destruction firsthand.
Kharazi was such a witness. After observing the damage inflicted by the fire in October of 2007 upon First Bank in the Malibu Colony Plaza where she has worked as a manager for nine years, she is sure to never confuse it with another. Ironically, most of the bank’s wreckage was caused by water, not by flames.
“The clock tower above us was on fire,” Kharazi recalled. “The area on top of our ATM was burned and the tower collapsed. We were red tagged and closed down for a week.”
Luckily, fire fighters took all artwork off the walls and covered it and the bank’s computers with fire resistant material. They did the same for all desks, teller lines and windows, greatly reducing the already large amount of water damage.
On the third day of closure after the fire, Kharazi and the First Bank staff stood at a table by the curb outside the bank where they played the roles of human ATMs, taking straight deposits from customers. Kharazi would then deliver them to the bank’s Westlake Village office so they could be posted the same day.
“I did that for 10 days,” she said. “Then we opened the branch for first part of November and worked under construction until it was finished. We had a sign and banner to let the public know we were open because the front [entrance to the bank] was completely closed off. We are so grateful to our customers and employees for sticking with First Bank through thick and thin.”
On Sept. 10, after a complete makeover, First Branch had its grand reopening. The bank is a far cry from its original design that Kharazi said dated back to around 1985 and has been rebuilt with strict adherence to fire safety codes and is equipped with all necessary emergency equipment and handicap precautions.
Kharazi said her heart goes out to all the victims of the recent fires in Orange County and Montecito.
“It is really, really hard. Seeing our branch damaged was heartbreaking. Work is like a second home, you spend more time at the office than you do at home.”