Coast Federal Bank

The Los Angeles thrift put more than a fifth of its branches on the market and has retained the Goldman, Sachs & Co. investment banking firm to look for bids. Coast Financial, parent of Coast Federal Bank, said the 27 offices are in San Diego and the Central Valley and have $1.2 billion in deposits. A sale would leave Coast with 93 branches in California and $9.7 billion in assets.

Robert L. Hunt II has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of Coast Savings Financial Inc. and its main subsidiary, Coast Federal Bank, the Los Angeles company said Monday. Hunt, 42, replaces Ray Martin as president. Martin, who continues as the company's chairman and chief executive, had assumed the added title in December, 1991, after Gerald Barrone retired. Barrone had also been the chief operating officer, a position left vacant until Hunt's appointment.

A serial bank robber dubbed the San Juan Surfer, known for his trademark baseball cap worn backward and sunglasses, is believed to be the one who robbed a Coast Federal Bank branch Tuesday. About 2:30 p.m., a man slipped a teller a note that read, "I have a gun, put $7,000 in the envelope," Police Sgt. Barry Case said. The clerk grabbed an undisclosed amount of money, put it in the envelope and handed it to the man, who drove away on a motorcycle heading south on Brookhurst Street.

A controversial proposal to build a Home Depot in Granada Hills at the corner of Chatsworth Street and Zelzah Avenue has been scuttled. Property owner Coast Federal Bank announced Thursday that it had halted negotiations to sell two-thirds of the site to Home Depot. The chain would have been the anchor store in a proposed shopping center.

The FBI is looking for a serial robber who held up a Camarillo bank Wednesday morning. The man is also believed to have robbed a bank Tuesday night in Marina del Rey and two other banks since Dec. 30, said Special Agent Gary Auer, who supervises the Ventura office of the FBI. Wearing a gray long-sleeved hooded sweatshirt and dark jeans, the man entered Coast Federal Bank at 5291 Mission Oaks Blvd. in Camarillo just before noon Wednesday and handed a note to a teller, Auer said.

Mayor Richard Riordan on Tuesday announced the sale of 40 acres of the closed Hughes Aircraft Co. research facility to Coast Federal Bank in an unusual transaction that was brokered by a nonprofit corporation created by Riordan to assist local business.