Open now · Long Island City · Queens
Locked out in
Long Island City?
We dispatch from a storefront on Vernon Blvd — not a call centre in another state. Typically 15–30 minutes to your door, any hour, with the price agreed before we start.
Not urgent? Texting a photo of the lock gets you a firm price and means the van arrives with the right part on board.
- Dispatch
- 24/7, every day
- Licence
- NYC DCWP #0000000
- Storefront
- Real counter, Vernon Blvd
- Pricing
- Published, not quoted at the door
Lockouts · picked, not drilled
A cylinder we open is a cylinder you keep. Picking takes longer than drilling and costs us more time, which is exactly why the cheapest quote on the phone so often ends with you buying a new lock.
Rekeying · restricted profiles
A key stamped DO NOT DUPLICATE is a request. A patented profile with a milled side channel is a mechanism — the blanks are controlled, so nobody copies your key without your say-so.
Gantry Plaza · est. 1925
Two transfer bridges that lifted rail cars onto barges across the East River. Built 1925 and 1928, worked until 1957, restored in 1998. Four blocks from our counter.
Emergency dispatch is open right now. 15–30 minutes typical across LIC.
47-15 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11101Counter hours
What we do
Seven things, done properly
Emergency work around the clock, planned work booked at your convenience. Every price below is a real starting point, not a hook.
- From$89Emergency Lockout ServiceLocked out of your apartment, office or storefront? We are a few blocks away, not a call centre in another state.What this covers
- From$35Lock RekeyingNew keys without new hardware. The right move the day you move in, and the fastest way to cut off anyone still holding a copy.What this covers
- From$145Lock Installation & RepairThe right grade of lock, fitted so the bolt actually seats. Most failed locks in LIC are not broken — they were installed badly.What this covers
- From$220Commercial Locksmith ServiceWhen a storefront door fails, you are not inconvenienced — you are closed. We work on commercial hardware and we are minutes away.What this covers
- From$145Car Key Replacement & Auto LocksmithLost every key to the car? We cut and program a new one at the kerb — no tow to a dealership, no three-day wait.What this covers
- From$175Safe Opening & InstallationForgotten combination, dead keypad battery, or an inherited safe nobody has the code to. Opened without destroying it wherever the safe allows.What this covers
- From$3Key Cutting & DuplicationA real counter with a real locksmith behind it. House keys while you wait, and the high-security keys a hardware store cannot cut.What this covers
Not sure which you need?
Describe the door and we will tell you — including when the answer is that you do not need a locksmith.
A stiff lock is usually a misaligned door. A building common-door lockout is usually your management company. We would rather say so than send a van.
(718) 000-0000
The part nobody else publishes
Our prices are on the website.
The loudest complaint about this trade is the $19 quote that becomes $350 once the technician is standing in your hallway. The simplest way to prove we do not work that way is to put the numbers where you can read them before you call.
- 01
A number on the phone
Describe the door and you get a range before we dispatch. Not "our tech will assess" — an actual number.
- 02
Confirmed at the door
The tech looks at the real lock and confirms the price before any tool comes out of the bag.
- 03
Changes get re-agreed
If what we find differs from what you described, you hear the new number and you decide. Work never starts on a quote you have not agreed to.
- 04
Walk away free
If the confirmed price is higher than you expected and you would rather not proceed, you owe us nothing.
Where we actually get to quickly
Six neighbourhoods, honest minutes
We list the areas we can genuinely reach fast from the Vernon Blvd counter, and no more. A locksmith who turns up forty minutes after the window they promised is worse than one who told you to call somebody closer.
What actually happens
How a call goes, start to finish
No part of this should be a surprise. If a locksmith will not walk you through it in this much detail, that itself is information.
- Step 01
You call
A person picks up — not a dispatcher three states away reading a script. Describe the door and you get a price range on the call.
- Step 02
We give an honest ETA
15–30 minutes is typical inside Long Island City. If we are on a job and it will be longer, we say the longer number.
- Step 03
Price confirmed at the door
The tech looks at the actual lock and confirms the cost before any tool comes out of the bag.
- Step 04
Non-destructive entry
We pick, bypass or shim wherever the lock allows it, so you keep the hardware you already own.
- Step 05
You are in, and the lock still works
We test the lock with you before leaving. If the cylinder was already failing, you will hear that too.
Why trust a locksmith you just found
Every claim here, you can check
This trade has a genuine trust problem, and telling you we are trustworthy does nothing about it. So instead: here are the things you can independently verify before you let anyone near your door.
A licence number you can look up
NYC requires locksmiths to hold a DCWP licence and to display the number on their advertising. Ours is in the footer of every page, linked to the City's own public lookup.
An address that exists
A storefront on Vernon Blvd you can walk into. Many locksmith listings are mail drops or map pins on residential buildings — put any address into Street View before you call it.
Prices published in advance
Full ranges for every job on the pricing page, and the rule that no work starts on a number you have not agreed to.
We ask you to prove it is yours
A locksmith who opens doors without verifying authorisation is a burglary service. The check protects you far more than it protects us.
Starting prices
Real ranges for the seven things we do. The exact number is confirmed at your door before any tool comes out of the bag.
- Emergency Lockout Service
- $89 – $185
- Lock Rekeying
- $35 – $65
- Lock Installation & Repair
- $145 – $285
- Commercial Locksmith Service
- $220 – $1,400
- Car Key Replacement & Auto Locksmith
- $145 – $375
- Safe Opening & Installation
- $175 – $450
- Key Cutting & Duplication
- $3 – $85
Why we are called Gantry
Named for two machines that are still standing
The gantries in Gantry Plaza State Park are Long Island Rail Road transfer bridges, built in 1925 and 1928. They lifted hundred-ton rail cars onto flat-bottomed barges to cross the East River, because there was no freight tunnel and the goods had to reach Manhattan somehow.
They worked until 1957. Then containerisation arrived, freight moved to trucks, and they stood abandoned on the waterfront for forty years while everyone waited for someone to pull them down. In 1998 they were restored instead, and made the centrepiece of the park.
We took the name because it is the right one for this trade. Precision machinery, built properly, still doing its job a century later — and unmistakably from this neighbourhood.
Before you call
Questions worth asking
Of us, and of any other locksmith you are considering.
How fast can you actually get to me?
Why is it a range instead of a fixed price?
Are you licensed?
Will you damage my lock getting me in?
Should I rekey or replace my locks?
Talk to a locksmith, not a call centre
One call. A real price. An honest ETA.
15–30 minutes is typical across Long Island City. Dispatch is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Counter: 47-15 Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11101 · Dispatch: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week