Old Towne Lock & Key

Fast, professional service. I got a spare key for my Prius cut in 3 minutes.

This review is from me (Vikki) and my husband (Bret). We struggled getting duplicate keys made for our mailbox and garage door locks. Rachel at Old Towne Lock & Key provided excellent service. Our positive experience began via phone with Rachel where she walked me through my options and even reviewed my key via text. My husband then had the keys made the next day and agrees that they deserve 5-​stars based on their product selection, quality, price, and service. It may be difficult to find them, but they are behind the UFC Gym on Hawthorne.

Once you find this place (behind the strip mall) it’s great! No credit cards but otherwise everything you could ask for in a locksmith. They make auto keys as well.

Great find, these people know their craft. Been in business since 1982. Just make sure you bring in cash, no credit cards or checks accepted.

Worst locksmith in the world. He charged me 165 for two improperly installed locks. My doors don’t even lock. I had to hire a subsequent person to take care of it. This company should be put out of business.

Any locksmith that makes a key from an impression in clay without knowing who owns the lock in my book is a criminal … If this story is actually true I think the police should investigate him.

These guys know their craft… Had a hard to duplicate key for a Thule car carrier. Went to four master key shops none could even identify it. As soon as I walked in they know exactly what this key was for.
These guys are great ! Highly recommend great prices and great friendly service.

We called local Locksmith to replace our existing entry door lock because they’re near to our house. Unfortunately, it turned out a nightmare for us. They sent a young Mexican technician to our house. This guy is lack of knowledge and didn’t know anything. He removed the existing lock but couldn’t replaced the new door lock then left our house. He messed up our door and leave new holes on our door. We ended up to replaced the whole entry door that costed us a couple thousand dollars. Horrible experience with Locksmith.

Awesome job !!!
Had to go and have a new VATS (vehicle anti-​theft system) for a GM. $ 25.00 and done right the first time. Unlike Torrance lock and key. 4 trips and 2 bad keys later, I gave up. The only down side is they don’t accept credit cards.

Our purse was stolen from our car with ALL our house and business keys in it.
Toshi did great service re-​keying our house locks, outside mail box and producing new keys for the business.
His pricing is very reasonable and service was prompt. Very friendly, too. Their place is neat, clean, well organized and has a good vibe about it. A solid, family, local small business.

The manager of my place would not hand out keys to the public room, but would only lend it out for thirty seconds at a time, so after I unlocked it, I had to return it to her immediately. But this time I took the key, made an impression of it by pushing it sideways into a flat piece of clay, then ran back and handed over the precious key. But I took the chunk of clay down to this place, the counter lady looked at my clay, and said «I can’t make a key out of this, you need to bring the key in.» my response was «can you cut it by eye?»
«I cannot. No.»
«well, where is that old guy?»
«he’s on a call. he’ll be back in 10 minutes.»
«do you mind if I wait for him?»
«not at all. he’ll be here soon.»
they had a big stack of People magazine, and right in the middle of an article about Tom Cruise, he came strolling in. The king of keys! He successfully made me my own key by taking a proper blank, and cutting the teeth by eye! It took a few minutes, because he had to grind a little, compare it to my impression, then grind a little more. Now I have an actual key, and am no longer dependant on my property manager for access! This Keymaster is an ARTEEST!

Got a copy of a key made and it didn’t work. Kept getting stuck in the door lock. First time having an issue with a copy made by them. I’m hoping it was a one time exception to their usual high quality service.

Great service and helpful staff!
I inherited an old (circa 1930s) China cabinet from my great aunt, and no one in the family could find the key to remove the contents so we could move it. The owner from Old Towne Lock & Key came out with a a few dozen blanks and found the one that best fit the lock. After customizing it he got the cabinet open and gave us the key. Not only did he help up out in a jam, but he also charged a reasonable price. He is a true professional.

With a purchase of new house, I also received a big safe. Not sure what I did, but couldn’t open it. Called several places and most of them quoted me min $ 200+ and some didn’t even want to come out to take a look at it even if I offered to pay min. charge for on-​site visit.
Fortunately, I was able to schedule a visit with Toshi on Sat afternoon, unlock the dial, resolve the problem.
Safe is big and expensive, and I think he could have charged me a lot more to fix the problem. But he was very honest and to the point. Overall process took less than 30 min.
Not sure how often I will need locksmith service, but I know who/​where to call if I need some help.
Thank you

Toshi was great. Very knowledgable and more than willing to explain what he was doing and how locks work in general. I’ll be going to them for all my lock/​key needs.

I work a few blocks away from this place. I needed a set of two spare keys made. I took my 15 minute break at work at around 5:30pm, parked, walked into this place, was helped by a nice lady, since the gentleman that works here was helping another gentleman that had come before me out, got my copies, paid the lady four bucks and some change, and I got back to work before my 15 minute break ended.
Amazing!
Keep in mind this place is cash only!
I get any of my keys and lock work done here, as opposed to a locksmith near where I live. You can’t go wrong with the awesome people that work here!

If you’re looking for the place, it’s located behind all the big shops on the other side of the plaza. That means driving to the back end. The location of the store is totally hidden especially if you don’t know where you’re going. I had to call them on my initial visit because I couldn’t find them and they just said, on the back side of UFC. Oh… duh me after laps back and forth in the front parking lot.
Reiko and her husband (presuming) have been running the shop for many decades. This is a no frills, nothing fancy, nor a dolled up place in any way. I had some locks to change out and Reiko told me that it would be a lot of money if I called them out to my home to change the locks. She advised that it would be cheaper and probably faster if I was able to take off the locks off the door myself and just bring it into the store. I followed her advice and really didn’t have any issues. All you need is a power drill tool (although, Philips screwdriver would have been sufficient. It may take a lot more work though). They were able to create new keyholes and brand new keys with the locks I brought in so that all old keys would be useless. I returned home and was a happy customer.
A few days later, I returned to make copies of random keys. Ever get your keys done at whack places, take it home only to find out the stupid keys do not work? Well, I made a few keys here and all of them worked. This is what happens when you have a master technician behind the counter and not some chump who calls himself a locksmith because the key copy machine is located in his «tools» department.
I definitely would recommend Old Towne Lock & Key. Do check their hours beforehand or just call in to make sure they will be open. Only downfall is that they are cash only so if you’re doing some major stuff, you may want to hit the ATM before paying. Other than that, Reiko and her hubby are very friendly and social people. While in her store, she showed me oldskool pics of the strip mall and their very first locksmith store. Trust, they have been in the business for a long time and they know their stuff. I randomly ran into her at Costco and she gave me that squint like she was trying to recall where she had met me and I said, «You’re my lock lady!»
This is your spot. Help the locals of 310.

To get some of our house keys duplicated and backed up in case we ever needed an extra set I of course turned to Unilocal to see where I should go to get that done quickly. It was really strange trying to find this place but there is a handy sign if you look for it that tells you that it’s in the back. Yes, it really is in the back of the plaza. You actually have to drive between the big plaza buildings and it’s right to the left. The only store in the back area actually.
The sole worker was away on lunch at the time we arrived but zoomed up soon after and let us in. A few minutes later, $ 9 out of our wallet, and we were out with four brand new keys! Pretty easy and fast to get our keys copied here and we made sure they all worked fine when we arrived home.
It should always be the easy and simple to get keys duplicated!

Hard to find! Here’s a tip–
Take the driveway to the side of the UFC gym and go behind the building. It’s a small shop totally hidden, but you’ll see it once you get back there.
I’ve had copies of keys made at HomeDepot, only to come home and find that the key copies don’t even turn my locks, let alone fit in the lock at all. Those effers were also hard to track down to even get a key made, and they jack you on the prices.
At this shop, they’re friendly and have the keys made in literally a minute. 2 key copies made for $ 4.34, can’t beat that!
I raced home to check if the keys worked, and YES they turned perfectly in my locks. Best place ever!

This is just my go to place for lock and key. Every time I go here I am more and more impressed with their expertise and great customer service.
Next time? I need to buy a lock.