Palo Alto neighborhood · 24/7
Old Palo Alto locksmith visits between Embarcadero and Oregon Expressway, where the first lock on the property is a side gate in a hedge
The wide streets between Embarcadero Road and Oregon Expressway: 1920s and 1930s houses behind tall hedges, others rebuilt in the last twenty years, a side gate onto the drive, a detached garage at the back of the lot, a guest cottage, and households whose keys are carried by a housekeeper and filed by a property manager.
4.9 / 5· 176 reviews from Palo Alto, Stanford & the towns beside them
16 min
Avg. arrival
$89
Service call
24/7
Availability
Sixteen minutes is the shortest run on the map after Midtown itself, straight up Middlefield Road. In Old Palo Alto the trouble door is seldom the front. It is the side gate, a wood gate on a keyed latch that swings shut on its spring behind whoever carried the bins out, leaving the front bolted and the phone on the hall table. That lockout is $129 to $219, and the gate latch is picked before anyone walks up to the house. On the older houses the front door still carries its 1920s mortise set with a bronze plate; the plate stays, the cylinder is rekeyed at $27 to $45, and a case that has worn through is replaced behind the same plate at $125 to $329.
Keys on these lots are spread across a household's staff. One person holds the kitchen door, another the side gate, a third the pool enclosure, and the property manager keeps a sealed set for an owner who spends part of the year elsewhere. A rekey of every cylinder is $27 to $45 each, and with a guest cottage and a detached garage the count reaches eight or nine. A manager books in the owner's name on a short message from the owner, and the written line for the file follows the receipt without a reminder. Households that want to stop cutting keys put a smart lock at $189 to $479 on the kitchen door, where the staff come and go, and the front stays on its bronze. A safe in the study whose combination left with the last owner is opened at $195 to $539, usually with the door untouched.
The streets are wide, the van stops at the curb or inside the drive, and nothing is charged for the hedge. The rebuilt houses carry tall doors on multipoint locks and a keypad on the garage, and both are serviced; a multipoint gearbox that has begun to bind is adjusted while it can still be adjusted, which is cheaper than the gearbox. Evening calls carry $55 between 8pm and midnight and $90 overnight, inside the figure said on the call, and calls are answered 24/7.
Say whether the technician can reach the front door from the street or must come through a gate, and whether that gate is on a key, a keypad or a driveway operator. Where staff hold keys, count the cylinders rather than the people; the rekey figure follows the count.
Nearby
The next district over, the same van and the same figures
FAQ
Asked about Old Palo Alto
Sixteen minutes is the quickest run on your map. Why here?+
Because it is a straight line. The van sits near Middlefield Road and Old Palo Alto is directly north of it, with no expressway to cross and wide streets at the end of the drive. The van stops at the curb or inside the drive, and no part of the figure pays for the hedge.
Six people hold keys to this property. How is a rekey counted?+
By cylinders, not by people. A usual count here is the front door, the kitchen door, the side gate, the pool enclosure, the detached garage and the guest cottage, each at $27 to $45, with the $89 visit sitting once inside the single figure. Every old key stops working when the last cylinder is pinned.
The driveway gate runs on an operator and the power is out. Can it be opened?+
Usually. Almost every gate operator has a manual release, and it is found and used rather than the gate being forced; where there is a keyed pedestrian gate beside it, that latch is picked instead. Say on the call which of the two you have and whether the release key has ever been seen.
Open 24 hours, 7 days
One call, one figure, and the lock kept whole
Calls answered 24/7 across Palo Alto, Stanford and the towns beside them. The $89 service call, the labor and the parts are inside the figure said on the call, the lock is opened without drilling wherever it allows, and the receipt repeats the figure.