A LOOK BACK -- JERRY PERSON

For many years, if you needed a new key to get in your house or car,

you went to see Joe Farley, a Main Street business owner.

I have known Joe and his wife Pauline for almost a quarter of a

century. Joseph “Joe” Gerald Farley was born in 1916. They have lived in

Huntington Beach for 60 years.

Joe attended Central Elementary School here in 1922, beginning in the

first grade and lived here when the great earthquake hit here in 1933.

He worked as a Linotype operator at the old Globe Herald, the Santa

Ana Register and the Daily Pilot in Costa Mesa for 28 years, before

starting his own locksmith business in Huntington Beach in 1967.

Joe and Pauline rented a small annex building that connected to Ted

Bartlett’s service station at 303 1/2 Main St. for their key shop.

“The first day we made $10, we were so happy,” said Pauline Farley.

“Right after we opened, one of the oil companies in town needed 240 keys

made, I didn’t know one key from another, but somehow we made them and

they all worked.”

When Ted Bartlett moved out of his building in 1979, the Farleys took

over his space at 303 Main St.

On a daily basis you could have found Bartlett, Virgil Brewster,

George Arnold and half the City Council sitting around arguing politics

all day long. (This was before the Brown Act came into force).

“I can remember working one day and George Arnold would quietly come

in and bang on the counter; he was a character in those days, “ Pauline

said.

Longtime residents Gordie Higgins and Johnny Johnson worked there for

several years, and I can still see them at their work benches with

hundreds of key blanks hanging on hooks on the wall.

When the building was demolished in 1986 for redevelopment, Joe and

Pauline moved one block over to 301 5th St. Their new haunt was an old

service station building. This building had been Les Potts’ service

station, and Joe and Pauline stayed and continued making keys for many of

our Downtown business owners and residents until 1991.

That year, they moved down the street to 220 5th St. and after Joe

suffered a stroke which prevented him from continuing the business, they

sold it to retired American Airlines pilot Richard Peters.

Joe was active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society for 27 years, was an

Exalted Ruler in the Elks Lodge in Huntington Beach and was a member of

the Knights of Columbus.

On April 17, Joe passed away at the age of 85. I still have on my key

ring several keys stamped with “Farley” that Joe made me and as long as I

have these, Joe’s memory will always be with me. And Joe! don’t forget

to make a golden key and leave it under the mat at heaven’s gate for me.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.