My father was out of a job after the second world war and had three kids and a wife to support. Faced with a financial problem but armed with good mechanical ability, he purchased an existing locksmith business in the suburbs of Chicago.
His new locksmith business was located in an alley garage which was set behind a row of commercial businesses. The single-car garage had two large hinged doors for access. One of the doors had a makeshift standard doorway cut into it. Customers had to walk down the alley, open the secondary door and step over a high threshold in order to enter his new garage lock shop. Business cards noted the address as "1712 1/2 Sherman (in the rear)".
This locksmith business had been established by the former owner in 1927 during liquor prohibition days. The former owner also repaired firearms. An adjoining garage served as a stockroom. On closer inspection, the second garage stockroom was almost completely filled with empty five gallon bottles.
It appears that the old locksmith business made most of its income for many years by selling bootleg liquor. Perhaps the firearms were repaired for people like Al Capone during those same prohibition days. Even years later, police would regularly visit my father and complain about customer cars which were parked in the alley and supposedly restricted traffic. I often thought that the police harassment may have been a result of expected payoffs which those same policemen may have once received to overlook the former bootleg operation.
Our family business left the old garage location in 1951 and moved to a cleaner, more businesslike setting. Bootlegging is long forgotten. The honest business of selling and servicing the security needs of people in the area has continued through four generations and over a 60-year time frame.
This was the story of how one locksmith business began but surely there are many more similar stories which would be of even more interest. Contact me with the interesting beginning which you locksmith business may have had and we will feature your business in a future Locksmith Ledger article. Contact: [email protected] or 847-454-2703.
