Locksmith in 94704 Downtown Berkeley and Southside

Lock and key work in Downtown & Southside

94704 takes in Downtown Berkeley and the Southside neighbourhood below the university. Downtown Berkeley BART sits under Shattuck Avenue. Berkeley Rep and the other theatres line Addison Street, Berkeley High School and Civic Center Park are a few blocks away, and Telegraph Avenue runs south from the campus edge past People's Park, record shops and cheap eats.

Southside is mostly apartments. Large 1960s blocks, newer mid-rises, older brown-shingle houses split into rooms, plus co-ops and fraternity and sorority houses along Piedmont and the streets nearby. Turnover is high. Every August thousands of new tenants get keys that have been handed out many times before, which is why rekeying between tenancies matters here more than almost anywhere.

Downtown, the work is mostly commercial. Restaurant back doors onto service alleys, office suites above Shattuck, shop doors with worn cylinders. Small offices often share a lobby, and the building manager controls the street door. A locksmith can work on your suite door, but the shared entrance needs the manager's approval.

Parking is tight and mostly metered or in garages. If your car is locked in a downtown garage, give the garage name, the level and the nearest pillar number when you call.

A tip for Southside tenants. When you move in, try every key you were given in every lock before the landlord's agent leaves, including the mailbox and any bike-room or laundry door. A key that half works is a lockout waiting to happen. Report it the same week, while the move-in is fresh.

Typical calls here

• Apartment lockouts in large Southside buildings
• Rekeying units between tenants before the August move-in
• Room locks in shared houses and co-ops
• Restaurant and shop back-door cylinders downtown
• Office suite locks above Shattuck Avenue
• Car lockouts in downtown parking garages