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CORRESP
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SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA BANCORP

12265
El Camino Real, Suite 210

San
Diego, California 92130

April
24, 2023

VIA
EDGAR

Division
of Corporation Finance

U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission

100
F Street, N.E.

Washington,
D.C. 20549

    Attention:
    Shannon Davis

    Michael Volley

    Madeleine Mateo

    Tonya Aldave

    Re:
    Southern California Bancorp

    Registration Statement on Form 10-12B

    Filed April 6, 2023

    File No. 001-41684

Ladies
and Gentlemen:

This
letter is the response of Southern California Bancorp (the “Company”) to the comments provided by the staff of the U.S. Securities
and Exchange Commission (the “Staff”) by letter dated April 20, 2023, concerning the Company’s Registration Statement
on Form 10-12B that was filed on April 6, 2023 (the “Registration Statement”).

We
are concurrently filing Amendment No. 1 to the Registration Statement (“Amendment No. 1”), which reflects our responses to
the Staff’s comments and certain other updated information. We will also provide the Staff courtesy copies of Amendment No.1 marked
to reflect the changes from the Registration Statement.

The
Staff’s comments are copied below in italicized, bold type. Our responses follow each of the comments. Except for page references
appearing in the headings and Staff comments below (which are references to the Registration Statement), all page references herein correspond
to the pages of Amendment No. 1.

Registration
Statement on Form 10-12B

General

    1.
    Please
    disclose the status of your application to be listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market. In this regard we note your disclosure on page
    117 that you have “applied and received approval to list [your] common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market,” as well as
    your disclosure on page 49 that such “listing is not guaranteed.” Please revise for consistency or advise.

On
April 24, 2023, we received notice that Nasdaq has approved our application to list our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market. Please
see pages 5, 49 and 117 of Amendment No. 1 for updated disclosure regarding this matter.

    2.
    We note
    that it appears that you intend to list your common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act. Please
    tell us the listing standard you intend to rely upon in listing your common stock and specifically confirm whether and how you meet
    Nasdaq’s quantitative listing standards. In this regard, it does not appear that you are relying upon the direct listing standards,
    considering you have not filed a registration statement under the Securities Act of 1933.

While
we meet each of the three quantitative standards for listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, we have relied on the Equity Standard set
forth in Section 5505(b)(1) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules, which requires that we have:

(A)
stockholders’ equity of at least $5 million;

    ●
    As of March 31, 2023, our stockholders’
    equity was $267.5 million.

(B)
a market value of unrestricted publicly held shares of at least $15 million; and

    ●
    As of April 17, 2023, 2023, the
    market value of our unrestricted publicly held shares was approximately $166.4 million.

(C)
a two year operating history.

    ●
    We have operated as a bank holding
    company since May 15, 2020, and our wholly-owned banking subsidiary, Bank of Southern California, N.A., commenced operations in December
    2001.

To
rely on the Equity Standard set forth in Section 5505(b)(1) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules, we must also meet all of the requirements set
forth in Section 5505(a) of the Nasdaq Listing Rules. Section 5501(a) requires that we have:

(1)
a minimum bid price of $4 per share (or a lower amount in certain circumstances prescribed in Section 5501(a)(1)(B) of the Nasdaq Listing
Rules);

    ●
    As of April 17, 2023, the closing
    price of our common stock on the OTC Pink Open Market was $15.50 per share.

(2)
at least 1,000,000 unrestricted publicly held shares;

    ●
    As of April 17, 2023, we had 10,732,466
    unrestricted publicly held shares.

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(3)
at least 300 round lot holders, at least 50% of whom must hold unrestricted securities with a market value of $2,500;

    ●
    As of April 17, 2023, we had more
    than 300 round lot holders, at least 50% of whom held unrestricted securities with a market value of $2,500.

(4)
at least three registered and active market makers; and

    ●
    We have commitments from five registered
    and active market makers.

(5)
a minimum average daily trading volume of 2,000 shares over the 30 trading day period prior to listing, with such trading occurring on
more than half of those 30 days.

    ●
    For the 30 trading days ending on
    April 20, 2023, we had a minimum average trading volume of 17,537 shares, with such trading occurring on 23 days.

Business

Deposit
Products, page 12

    3.
    We note
    your response to our prior comment 9 and your revised disclosure. Please remove references to “expanded FDIC insurance”
    in this section and on page 54.

We
have removed references to “expanded FDIC insurance” in this section and on page 54.

If
you should have any questions or comments regarding this response or Amendment No. 1, please contact our legal counsel, Joshua Dean of
Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP, at (714) 424-8292.

  Sincerely,

  /s/ Joann Yeung

  Joann
Yeung

  Senior
Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer on
behalf of

  SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA BANCORP

    cc:
    Joshua
    Dean, Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

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