When something goes wrong with a lock at home, it rarely happens at a convenient hour. A key that won’t turn on a rainy morning, a deadbolt that stopped catching after the door swelled, a lock left behind by the previous owner — these are the calls Oak Knoll Lock and Key handles for Pasadena households week in and week out. We’re a mobile residential locksmith, which means the workshop comes to your driveway rather than the other way around.
Pasadena’s homes are unusually varied for a city its size. A 1912 Craftsman in Bungalow Heaven wears its original mortise hardware with pride; a mid-century ranch near Sierra Madre Villa runs on cylindrical knobsets; a newer infill house east of Allen Avenue may already have a smart deadbolt on the front door. A second-floor unit near the Playhouse District has its own entry setup entirely. We come prepared for that range instead of forcing one solution onto every door.
Locking yourself out is one of the most common reasons people call a locksmith, and it happens to organized, careful people constantly — a door that latches behind you, a key left in yesterday’s jacket. We open the large majority of home and apartment lockouts without harming the door or the lock, so you’re back inside without shopping for replacement hardware afterward. Before we open any secured home or unit, we confirm you live there or are authorized to enter; it’s a small step that protects you as much as the property.
A knob that spins without catching, a bolt you have to lift the door to throw, a latch that only cooperates when it feels like it — those are usually repairs, and often the culprit is a worn cylinder or a strike plate that drifted out of alignment as the house settled. When a lock is genuinely worn out, we replace it with hardware matched to the door and the security you want. Adding a lock where there wasn’t one — a side gate, a converted garage entry, a new interior door — is routine install work.
Rekeying resets the pins inside a lock so old keys stop working and a new key takes over, without replacing the whole unit. It’s the right move after you move in, after a roommate or tenant leaves, or when a key has gone missing and you’d rather not wonder who has it. We also cut duplicate keys and can set several locks to open with a single key so you carry less on the ring. There’s a whole page on rekeying and keys if you want the detail.
A solid deadbolt does more for a door than almost any other single upgrade. We install grade-rated deadbolts, handlesets, and reinforced strike plates, and we make sure the bolt seats fully into the frame — a handsome lock accomplishes nothing if the door is out of line and the bolt only travels halfway. For households that want to leave keys behind, we also fit smart locks and keyless entry. See deadbolts & hardware for options.
Keys snap, especially older keys in older locks, and always at the worst moment. If a key breaks off in the cylinder, resist digging at it — that tends to push the piece deeper. We extract the fragment, check the lock for damage, and cut a fresh key or rekey the cylinder so it’s dependable again.
Yes — it’s one of our most common calls. We rekey your existing locks so any keys the previous owner, agent, or contractor held no longer work, and hand you a fresh set. It’s faster and cheaper than replacing every lock.
In the great majority of home lockouts, yes. Our approach is to open the lock, not force the door. We’ll confirm you’re authorized to enter first.
Often we can. Vintage mortise locks can frequently be repaired or rekeyed rather than replaced, which keeps the character of the door intact. If a piece is beyond saving, we’ll tell you and match a replacement sympathetically.
We do. We’ll fit a smart or keyless deadbolt to your door, make sure it seats properly, and walk you through how it works before we leave.
Pasadena first, plus Altadena, Sierra Madre, Arcadia, San Marino, South Pasadena, Temple City, San Gabriel, and La Cañada Flintridge. Call to confirm your street.
One call reaches a local locksmith who explains the job and the price before starting.
