What kind of locksmith work do we do in Lawndale?
Lawndale is a compact city, and the lock work here follows the buildings: small postwar houses on small lots, many with rear units or converted garages; garden-style apartment complexes along the main boulevards; and storefronts on Hawthorne and Artesia. We handle all of it from one company: emergency lockouts, home and apartment locks, business hardware, and cars. This page is the overview, and each category below points to a page with more detail on that specific job.
Wilshire Lock & Key has been in business since 1987. Our storefront is at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, about 16 miles from Lawndale, and our mobile vans do the work on site. The phone, (213) 577-1366, is answered around the clock, every day of the year, so you reach the same company at noon or in the middle of the night. David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work.
What happens when you are locked out in Lawndale?
A lockout looks different depending on where it happens. It might be a tenant shut out of a unit in a complex along Hawthorne Blvd, a homeowner locked out of a small bungalow, or a driver with the keys sitting on the seat of a car parked near the El Camino College commuter area. Each of those is a different door and a different lock, so the first thing we ask is what kind of door it is and what happened.
For anything urgent, our emergency locksmith service in Lawndale is built around getting you back inside without damaging the door whenever that is possible. If it is the middle of the night, our 24-hour locksmith service runs on the same phone line and the same vans. There is no separate overnight company. Sometimes a lock has to be drilled or replaced to get in, and if that is where things are heading, we tell you before we start rather than after.
Because we work from vans, mobile locksmith service in Lawndale means the work happens at your door, not at a shop counter. The vans carry our tools and a working stock of common hardware. Older doors sometimes need a part that is not on the truck, and we will say so honestly if that is the case.
Home and apartment locks: rekeying, repair and replacement
Many Lawndale homes are 1940s and 1950s single-family houses, and a lot of them have a rear unit or a converted garage. That means one property can have several exterior doors, each with its own lock, and often nobody is sure how many keys are floating around from previous tenants, contractors, or relatives. Rekeying, which means changing the internal pins of an existing lock so the old keys stop working, is the usual answer after a move, after a tenant leaves, or after a set of keys goes missing. It keeps the hardware you already have and is usually the more economical route compared with replacing every lock. Our lock rekey service in Lawndale explains how that works in more detail.
Apartment residents and property managers have their own version of the problem. If you are shut out of a unit in one of the small complexes along Hawthorne Blvd or the other main corridors, our apartment lockout help is the page to read. Any honest locksmith will ask you to show that you live at or manage the unit before opening it, and we do the same. It protects your neighbors as much as it protects you.
Beyond lockouts, the common home jobs here are worn deadbolts, loose or sticking latches, mailbox locks, and the locks on security screen doors, which are common on older stock and often a separate lock from the main door. Duplex and small multi-unit properties also have shared entries and gates that take a beating. For those, see our gate lock repair page.
- Rekeying houses, rear units, and converted garages after a move or a change of tenants
- Repairing or replacing worn deadbolts, latches, and knobs
- Lock work on security screen doors and shared entries
- Key duplication, mailbox locks, and gate hardware
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Business lock service on Hawthorne and Artesia
Storefronts along Hawthorne and Artesia Blvds put their locks through constant use: a front door opened and closed all day, a cylinder that gets stiff, a latch that no longer catches, a closer that slams or does not close at all. When the front door will not lock, the shop cannot close for the night, so these calls tend to be time-sensitive. Our storefront lock repair page covers the typical fixes, from adjusting and repairing hardware to replacing it when repair no longer makes sense.
Staff changes are the other common reason a business calls. If someone leaves and still holds a key, rekeying the cylinders is a straightforward way to close that gap without replacing every door. We can also talk through how a set of keys should be organized so that employees only carry what they need. Because we are a storefront and mobile company, we can plan around your hours, and a business owner can call outside of them if something breaks.
Car lockouts and car keys near El Camino College
Cars are a regular part of locksmith work anywhere with commuter traffic, and the area around El Camino College is no exception. If your keys are locked inside, our car lockout service is about opening the vehicle without harming the door, window, or weatherstripping.
Lost or broken keys are a different matter. Whether a replacement can be cut and programmed on site depends on the make, model, year, and the type of key the car uses. We do not guess at that over the phone. We confirm what your vehicle needs using the VIN and by looking at the car in person. Some vehicles and some key types can only be handled by the dealer, and if yours is one of them, we say so plainly instead of starting a job we cannot finish. Our car key replacement page explains what we need from you, such as proof of ownership and the vehicle details, to get started.
How does a call to us in Lawndale work?
There is nothing complicated about it, but the order matters. This is how a typical Lawndale call goes.
- Call (213) 577-1366. A person answers, day or night, every day of the year.
- Tell us where you are. A street address is best, but a cross street such as Hawthorne and Redondo Beach Blvd works too, and so does a nearby landmark if you are in a parking lot.
- Describe the situation: which door or vehicle, what kind of lock if you know, and what happened. A quick photo of the lock sometimes helps if you can send one.
- We explain what the job is likely to involve and what will affect the final price, so there is no surprise at the door.
- A technician drives a mobile van to you from our Westwood base, roughly 16 miles away.
- On arrival we confirm that you are the resident, owner, or authorized person, then do the work in the least destructive way that will solve the problem.
- Before leaving, we test the lock and the keys with you, so you know they work.
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366What affects the cost of locksmith work in Lawndale?
We do not publish prices on a web page, because the honest answer depends on the job. What we can do is tell you exactly what moves the cost up or down, so that anything we quote makes sense to you.
Rekeying a lock is usually the more economical route when the hardware is still in decent shape. Replacement costs more because you are paying for new hardware as well as labor, but it is the better choice when a lock is worn out, damaged, or too old to rekey reliably. On 1940s and 1950s doors, we often have to look at the lock in person before we can say which one applies.
- Time of day: a middle-of-the-night or holiday call is different from a weekday daytime appointment.
- Type of lock and door: a basic knob is different from a high-security deadbolt, a security screen door lock, or a commercial storefront cylinder.
- How the door can be opened: non-destructive entry is often possible, but a damaged or poorly fitted lock may need to be drilled and replaced.
- Parts: whether the job needs only labor, or new cylinders, latches, or strikes.
- Number of locks: rekeying one door is a different job from rekeying every exterior door on a property with rear units.
- Vehicle details: the make, model, year, and key type determine what is involved with car keys, and some cases are dealer-only.
- Distance: our base is in Westwood, 16 miles from Lawndale, and that is part of the picture for an on-site visit.
What is the local picture in Lawndale?
Lawndale sits inside ZIP code 90260, a few miles inland on the coastal plain. It is a small city with little recent large-scale development, which means much of the door and lock hardware dates to earlier decades. Older cylinders wear out, old latches loosen, and original keys have often been copied from copies. That is a big reason rekeying and repair come up so often here.
The main commercial and residential strips give the city its shape: the Hawthorne Boulevard corridor, the Inglewood Avenue corridor, the Redondo Beach Boulevard corridor, and the Artesia Boulevard corridor. Garden-style apartments and small complexes line those streets, with businesses mixed in. Quieter residential blocks sit around them, including areas near El Camino Village and near Alondra Park. Landmarks that help us find you quickly include Leuzinger High School, the Lawndale Civic Center, the Lawndale Library, and the intersection of Hawthorne Blvd and Redondo Beach Blvd. El Camino College and Alondra Community Regional Park are adjacent to the city, and we also get calls tied to the commuter area around the college.
Climate plays a role too. Lawndale is inside the marine layer belt but far enough from the surf that salt-air corrosion is modest. The bigger effect on doors is the swing between damp mornings and hot summer afternoons, which makes older wood doors swell and stick. A door that drags on its frame can make a deadbolt hard to throw, and people often blame the lock when the real issue is the door. We check for that before replacing hardware that is still fine.
Here are the kinds of situations that fit Lawndale best:
- Apartment lockouts in complexes along Hawthorne Blvd
- Rekeying small postwar bungalows and rear units
- Storefront lock repair for businesses on Hawthorne and Artesia Blvds
- Vehicle lockouts near the El Camino College commuter area
- Gate and shared-entry lock service for duplex properties
Locked out or need a locksmith now?
We answer around the clock, every day of the year.
Call (213) 577-1366Why do people in Lawndale call Wilshire Lock & Key?
We will be straightforward: we are not on the next block. Our base is in Westwood, 16 miles away, and we do not pretend otherwise. What you get is a company that has been in business since 1987, with a real storefront at 10740 Wilshire Blvd and mobile vans on the road. When you call, you reach us, not a call center that sells your job to whoever is nearest. There are no dispatch middlemen between your phone call and the person at your door.
David, the owner and lead technician, oversees the work. That matters on the awkward jobs, such as an old lock that will not rekey cleanly, a car key that needs verification before anything is cut, or a storefront with mixed hardware from different decades. We serve 140 cities across Los Angeles and Ventura counties, and you can see where else we work on our locations page.
How do you check a locksmith's license in California?
California requires locksmith companies to hold a license from the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, known as a BSIS LCO license. Ask any locksmith for that number before they start work, including us, and check it with the state. Be wary of anyone who is vague about their company name, answers the phone with a generic greeting, or will not give you a firm explanation of how the price will be figured. Those are the habits that cause trouble for people during a lockout, when they are most rushed.
Neighborhoods and ZIP codes we cover
Lawndale areas we serve include Hawthorne Boulevard corridor, Inglewood Avenue corridor, Redondo Beach Boulevard corridor, Artesia Boulevard corridor, near El Camino Village, near Alondra Park. ZIP codes: 90260.
Lawndale locksmith questions
Do you serve all of Lawndale, including ZIP code 90260?
Yes. We work throughout Lawndale, which is covered by ZIP code 90260, from the Hawthorne Blvd corridor to Artesia Blvd and the residential blocks near El Camino Village and Alondra Park. Call (213) 577-1366 with your address or nearest cross street.
Where are you based, and how far is that from Lawndale?
Our storefront is at 10740 Wilshire Blvd in Westwood, about 16 miles from Lawndale. Our mobile vans do the work at your location. That distance is part of how we plan a visit, and we are upfront about it on the phone.
Can you open an apartment door in a complex on Hawthorne Blvd?
Usually, yes. We will ask you to show that you live at or manage the unit before we open it. In many cases the door can be opened without damage, but a worn or damaged lock may need to be replaced, and we will explain that before we start.
Should I rekey or replace the locks on my older Lawndale house?
If the hardware is still in decent shape, rekeying is usually the more economical route, since it makes old keys stop working without buying new locks. If a lock is badly worn, damaged, or too old to be reliable, replacement makes more sense. We often need to look at the lock in person to say which.
Why does my wood door stick in the morning and in summer?
Damp marine-layer mornings and hot summer afternoons cause older wood doors to swell and shrink. That can make a door drag on the frame and make a deadbolt hard to turn. It is often the door, not the lock, so we check for that before replacing hardware that still works.
Can you help if I am locked out of my car near El Camino College?
Yes, our car lockout service covers vehicles in Lawndale and the commuter area near the college. If you also need a replacement key, what we can do on site depends on the make, model, year, and key type. We confirm that by VIN and in person, and we tell you if your vehicle is dealer-only.
Do you handle business locks after hours?
Yes. Our phone is answered 24 hours a day, every day of the year. If a storefront door on Hawthorne or Artesia will not lock or will not open, call (213) 577-1366 and we will talk through the situation and send a van.
Can you give me a price over the phone?
We will explain how the price will be figured before work begins, and what in your situation affects it: time of day, lock type, whether the door can be opened without damage, parts, and distance. Some jobs need to be seen before a firm figure makes sense, and we would rather say that than guess.
Are you a licensed locksmith company?
California requires locksmith companies to hold a BSIS LCO license, and you should ask any locksmith for that number before work starts, including us. Our license number is being added to this site. In the meantime, ask for it when you call and confirm it with the state.
Nearby service areas
Reviewed by David, Owner & Lead Technician, Wilshire Lock & Key — in the locksmith trade since 1987.
Last updated 2026-10-11.