A.P. Giannini founded the Bank of Italy in a remodeled saloon in the North Beach section of San Francisco in 1904. He actively sought new customers among small businessmen and farmer who were considered bad risks by other, more orthodox bankers, basing many of his decisions on personal judgments of his customers. When the infamous earthquake of 1906 devastated the city, Giannini was there with a desk made of two barrels and a plank, offering loans to help rebuild. Borrowers had only character and calluses for collateral, but his judgments paid off and North Beach was the first neighborhood to be rebuilt. He was quoted as saying, “We didn’t lose a dollar, and we gained thousands of new friends.”