In Our Backyard: The Lady Locksmith
After four months of keeping our bedroom door closed by way of a sock stuffed between the door and the frame, I decided it was time for a pro. I called Wendy Lee MacDowell, otherwise known as the Lady Locksmith, and discovered another terrific Rocklander.
It starts with the shop. Forget a dark, greasy den filled with bizarre looking pieces of metal — Mac- Dowell recently relocated her shop into a freshly renovated garage on her property and the trim little building feels like Snow White’s cottage. Surrounded by a garden with birdhouses and a pergola, you almost want to invent reasons to come and hang out.
But there’s more than atmosphere. MacDowell, an attractive woman with two long braids and a ready smile, knows what she’s doing. She quickly located the part I needed and explained how to install it. When my DIY skills failed me a few hours later, however, MacDowell showed up in fifteen minutes with an impressive belt-load of tools and a cheerful attitude. In no time she’d realigned the holes in the door, installed the part and cleaned up.
MacDowell’s talent for tinkering started young. “When I was a kid I used to fix bicycles,” she says, “… the best thing to do was to take apart your roller skates and use them to make go-carts. I was always taking something apart to do something else with it.”
After graduating from high school, MacDowell got a summer job at a neighbor’s Bronx locksmith shop and learned the trade from the bottom up. Eventually, she accumulated 12 years experience in the business. But it wasn’t until after college, and trying everything from teaching high school math to selling real estate that she decided to open her own locksmith shop in Nyack in 1991. “I love it,” says MacDowell, “and I’m good at it.”
The area’s wedding cake Victorians and 17th Century Dutch farmhouses bristling with problematic hardware are a fun challenge for MacDowell. “Other guys won’t come here,” she says, “they don’t want to deal with all that stuff.”
But her attentiveness to the customer’s needs means she’s also comfortable with modern residential hardware, as well as with the latest high tech items specified for commercial sites. “My job is to help [customers] find out what they want. You know — how do they want it to work, what do they want it to look like — and then fit it into their budget,” says MacDowell.
Our door latches perfectly now, and I’ve got my order in for one of MacDowell’s favorite tools, a Makita 18-Volt cordless drill with a flashlight. But honestly, if I have a problem with a latch, a lock, or a knob, the drill will stay in the box — I’ll call the Lady Locksmith.
The Lady Locksmith
633 Main Street, Sparkill, NY
Mon. thru Fri. 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
and by appointment
Office 359-5000, Cell (914) 806-2249