Lifetecture

Today I needed to get an extra set of keys cut, so I went to the closest hardware store: Alvarez on 18th St. I lived on Throop and 18th St. for a year, two years ago, and I used to walk by the store much more frequently than I do now. It’s about the same “West” as I am, but because Blue Island Avenue is a diagonal street, my path now usually veers past it.

It’s the local anathema to Home Depot and one of those stores that I’m half-expecting will be closed each time I visit. The owner is an older gentleman who usually sports a cowboy hat and today I was glad to see that he and his store were open for business.

He took one look at my keys and told me that the brand, Falcon, is Mexican and that they make the strongest and the best types of locksets and keys to match. {I wonder does he knows they are now part of the Ingersoll-Rand conglomerate, incorporated in Bermuda?} Unfortunately, however, he doesn’t stock that type of key body in his store…which seemed unusual to me since the name of the store was Alvarez. As I pondered this, he himself wondered out loud why he does not carry the brand. When I asked if he had anything that might work, he said he would try something and proceeded to cut two keys from the originals I gave him. He offered to give me a refund if they didn’t work.

Sadly, I’ll have to stop by again soon because they do not open my door.