Data / Bank failures / 1985 / First City Bank
First City Bank, Glendale, CA: failed December 20, 1985
First City Bank in Glendale, California, failed on December 20, 1985. Sterling Bank of Los Angeles, CA, took over its deposits. It held $35.8 million in assets and $28.8 million in deposits at its last report. The FDIC estimates the cost to its insurance fund at $5.9 million (16.5% of its assets). By assets it was the 79th largest of 180 banks closed or assisted in 1985.
SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. It reads the FDIC failed bank data every morning, and this page is that reading. Ask for the banks you follow and each new closure arrives in your sheet, CRM, Slack or agent as the FDIC announces it.
The FDIC's record
- Closed
- December 20, 1985
- Type
- Failure
- How it was resolved
- Purchase and assumption: another bank took over the deposits
- Acquirer
- Sterling Bank, Los Angeles, CA
- Total assets
- $35,813,000
- Total deposits
- $28,772,000
- Estimated cost to the FDIC
- $5,898,751 (estimate as of July 31, 2026)
- Charter
- State nonmember bank (FDIC)
- Insurance fund
- FDIC
- FDIC certificate
- 22698
Other bank failures in California, 1983 to 1987
| Bank | City | Closed | Assets | Deposits | Estimated cost | Acquirer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delta Pacific Bank | Pittsburg | October 30, 1987 | $17.7 million | $17 million | $1.3 million | Central Bank |
| First California Savings Bank | San Fernando | October 15, 1987 | $220.6 million | $224 million | ||
| Valley State Bank | Los Angeles | September 28, 1987 | $93.2 million | $92 million | $2.2 million | Capital Bank of Californ |
| Commonwealth Bank | Torrance | September 25, 1987 | $85.1 million | $83.8 million | $16.7 million | Capital Bank of Californ |
| Empire National Bank | Los Angeles | July 30, 1987 | $8.8 million | $9.6 million | $3.1 million | |
| Bank of Los Gatos, N.A. | Los Gatos | July 23, 1987 | $13.1 million | $12.9 million | $1.3 million | Bank of the West |
| Whittier Thrift & Loan | Whittier | June 12, 1987 | $15.2 million | $14.4 million | $3.3 million | Liberty THRIFT&LOAN |
| Tahoe S&LA (assistance) | South Lake Tahoe | April 3, 1987 | $81.2 million | $90.8 million | $41.7 million | First Network Savings Bank |
Other failed banks Sterling Bank took over
| Bank | City | State | Closed | Assets | Deposits | Estimated cost | Acquirer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Woburn Five Cents Savings Bank | Woburn | MA | June 7, 1991 | $247.2 million | $240 million | $35.9 million | Sterling Bank |
| University Bank, National Association | Newton | MA | May 31, 1991 | $318.8 million | $295.8 million | $104.2 million | Sterling Bank |
All bank failures in 1985 · All bank failures in California · Every failed bank Sterling Bank took over · The full failed bank list
Read from the FDIC's failures data (BankFind), last updated 2026-10-23. Assets and deposits are as of the last report before failure; the estimated cost is the FDIC's latest estimate of the loss to its insurance fund and changes as the receivership winds down. Free to reuse with credit to SpecStream under CC BY 4.0.