Sept. 21--Years of waking up with a pit in his stomach prompted Fred Dunlap to reinvent himself.
"I was a big muckety-muck at a mortgage company," the 67-year-old Camarillo man said. "I would make excuses not to go in to work. I went to the doctor and learned it was stress."
After intensive career counseling, Dunlap found the key to his bliss. It's been almost 30 years since he pitched his suit and tie, buckled on a tool belt, and hung out his locksmith shingle: A Plus Locksmith Service.
"Now, I'm an instant hero," Dunlap said. "When I was in the mortgage business, at the end of the year they would write me a big, fat check. I say keep your check. I need some 'attaboys' along the way."
His first marriage ended in divorce, he said, because his ex-wife couldn't take the loss of income, but he remarried and said he's happy, living in a Camarillo rental and answering locksmith calls with his little white dog, Brittany, riding shotgun in his van.
Often called the "second oldest profession," according to the past president of the Associated Locksmiths of America, Breck Camp, locksmithing has been around since Biblical times. For centuries since, locksmiths have been getting people into or out of predicaments that are often routine, but can also be emotional, scary, funny or just plain memorable.
"People don't call me because everything's OK," said locksmith Larry Oberle, 41, of Newbury Park. "People call me because they're fighting with their spouse and they want to keep them out of the house. They're never happy when they call me, but when I pack up and leave and have done my job, they're always happy I've been there."
They try to stay out of domestic disputes, but the nature of a locksmith's job often lands them in the crossfire.
Richard Baroni of Anytime Richard's Lock & Key in Camarillo remembers a client in Oxnard who wanted a deadbolt on her bedroom to stave off an abusive boyfriend who was living there, according to what she told Baroni.
"I get all the tools out and the tarp and all of a sudden this guy comes out of nowhere -- a big, 300-pound guy -- and says 'You ain't putting no locks on my door,'" Baroni remembered. "They get into this big argument and he calls the cops."
Baroni went and sat on the tailgate on his truck until the police told him to go ahead and continue with the lock installation.
Another time, Baroni was changing the locks on a Ventura home for a woman going through a divorce.
"I was re-keying all the locks and all of a sudden her husband comes screeching around the corner saying 'I'm going to call the police,'" Baroni said. "I said, 'Hey, I'm just doing my job.'"
Because he had done so many jobs for warring couples, Baroni asked her if the check she used to pay him was going to clear.
"I was concerned he was going to withdraw the money out of their bank account. We've seen it all, I'm telling you," Baroni, 68, said. "She said, 'I've got a separate account and he doesn't know about it.' It bounced, of course."
Matt Byrd, 41, of Byrd Locksmithing in Camarillo said he got a call recently from a woman who said she had locked herself out of her safe.
"When I showed up she said 'Hurry up, my husband's coming home in half an hour,'" Byrd said. "And he has my stuff in his safe."
Byrd learned she was going through a divorce, stopped trying to open the safe, and told her she needed to get her attorney involved.
Baroni has changed locks for hoarders afraid someone is going to break in and steal all their stuff, he said.
"They're half-goofy. It's awful, the smell is so bad," he said. "I had one where they had eight or 10 locks. There were piles of dog (poop) all over the carpeting. They were just sitting there watching TV and knitting, and I'm stepping over the piles like land mines."
Dog poop was the weapon of choice for renters angry that they were being evicted, said Don Brown, 60, of Oxnard, who has been a locksmith since 1976. Brown came to change the locks for the landlord and was hit with a wall of stench in the home.
"They (the renters) left three dogs there for a week and came by just to feed them," Brown said.
Dunlap said he goes to church and considers himself a nice guy, but sometimes, customers go too far.
One time, a man summoned Dunlap because the man had locked himself out of his Corvette, which was running. Dunlap purchased a special tool for the job, opened the Corvette, and asked for the price the two had agreed upon, about $200.
"He said, 'I'm not paying that!'" Dunlap said. "So I threw the keys in the running car and pushed the lock down. I wasted my time and money. He said, 'OK, OK, I'll pay you,' but I left. He could call another locksmith."
When Oberle installed a new ignition for a man who had his car stolen, the man paid him with two paper bags of cash.
"He paid me 200 dollars in one dollar bills," Oberle said. "He wasn't a stripper. He had a vending machine business."
Once you've been a locksmith for a while, you learn who's on the level, and who's trying to pick the wrong lock.
Because he handles automotive locks, Byrd gets his share of young men who call him wanting Byrd to access a car.
"They'll say, 'My buddy got picked up for DUI over the weekend and my term paper is in the car'," Byrd said. "It's a judgment call on some of that stuff."
Oberle said he gets calls from young adults or adolescents who want him to make keys for their mom's car or their friend's car.
"I had a kid less than a week ago trying to get me to make a key for his dad's 2012 Corvette," Oberle said.
Some of the calls that aren't on the level are easy to detect, Baroni said.
"You get the pranksters," Baroni said "Like, 'My wife is handcuffed to the bed and can you come and look at it?' or 'I dropped my keys down the toilet.' I tell them to call a plumber."
Sometimes the trade is passed from father to son or mentor to apprentice. Oberle learned the trade from his dad, Jerry Oberle, who passed away earlier this year. Don Brown, 60, president of Nason's Lock & Security in Oxnard, learned about locks from mentor Howard Nason, then took over Nason's business after Nason died.
Brown employs a female locksmith, but area locksmiths and the executive director of ALOA, Mary May, agreed that it is a male-dominated profession, despite members like her. May said she believes that's because locksmithing was one of the trades taught to veterans, and the majority of veterans during the last century were men.
Those who do become locksmiths, male or female, go through rigorous security checks and must be licensed in California, so consumers should check www.findalocksmith.com before hiring a locksmith, according to May.
"There are a lot of scammers out there right now," May said. "They'll quote someone $29 over the phone, then charge them $200 or $300 and mess up their locks."
Oberle was once changing locks for a woman when an unmarked van pulled up. Oberle quickly figured out it was an unlicensed locksmith the woman had canceled. He kept pressuring the woman to pay him despite her protestations.
"She said 'But I canceled with you guys,'" Oberle said. "I had to walk him to his car ... I'm 6-foot-7, 215 pounds. I'm an imposing guy. She was an 80-something-year-old."
After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, a Realtor hired Oberle to re-key a Topanga Canyon house that had been vacated by the tenants because of earthquake damage.
It had just rained, and it was dark and muddy. Oberle couldn't pick his way into the front door, so he went around to the back door, even though he had no flashlight.
"Then something told me, let's not do this tonight. It was muddy and I was tired," he said. "I decided to go back at 7 a.m."
He returned in the daylight and followed his muddy footprints around to the back of the house. There, inches from the last footprint he made the night before, was a 500-foot drop-off. If the drop didn't kill him, lying there for days might have, he said.
The married father of three young boys said he is grateful for whatever instinct caused him to turn around that night.
People always feel silly when they lock themselves out of a home or car, but Dunlap assures them it can happen to anybody.
When he was at the Ventura County Fair about 15 years ago, he went to leave and realized he had locked his keys in his van.
"Without my tools, I couldn't get myself in. All my tools were locked inside," he said. "I had to call my wife and have her come down. She will never let me forget that."
When you need a locksmith
In California, locksmiths must be licensed by the Bureau of Security and Investigative Services, a division of the California Department of Consumer Affairs.
* If you are locked out of your car, call your auto insurance company first. They may offer locksmith benefits or have a list of recommended locksmiths.
* References from people you know can also help you find a reputable locksmith.
* Verify the locksmith's license online at www.bsis.ca.gov or call 800-952-5210.
* Research the business through the Better Business Bureau.
* When you call for services, make sure the dispatcher gives you an estimate of the charges.
* Ask to see the locksmith's license. Locksmiths are required by law to carry a pocket version of their license.
* If anything seems wrong, stop the process and call the police.
* To find a reputable locksmith, click on www.findalocksmith.com
-- Sources: Associated Locksmiths of America (www.aloa.org) and the California Department of Consumer Affairs
Copyright 2013 - Ventura County Star, Calif.
