Jose Gomez holds the keys to Cedars-Sinai's operations—all of them, actually.

As the locksmith for Cedars-Sinai, Jose keeps track of about 200,000 keys for offices, cabinets, and drawers. If you're locked out, Jose is the guy who gets you in.

In 2018 Jose made nearly 8,000 keys and replaced more than 2,100 locks or other hardware, says Robert Parks, executive director of Security Services. 

"Every day you come to work, you greet Jose, and he's got a smile on his face," Robert says. 

"He's the most happy-go-lucky, content person you'd ever want to meet, but he has a very aggressive work ethic and he gets the job done. He's here early, he stays late—you never get a complaint about Jose Gomez."

Read: Behind the Scenes: Cedars-Sinai Helipad

As the eldest of 13 children, Jose credits his family for teaching him to get along well with others. He grew up in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico, and continued to build teamworking skills as a semi-pro baseball player there.

When an injury ended his baseball career, Jose moved to Los Angeles in 1975. He worked for a picture-framing business for years before he saw a newspaper ad for a locksmith training program and thought it could lead to better career opportunities. 

After his training, a friend urged him to apply for a job at Cedars-Sinai and the operation has been his since 1991.

Jose stores the massive key collection in a well-organized room and maintains a system to keep track of every key at Cedars-Sinai. Each key he cuts gets a number and is recorded in what he calls his "bibles."

When someone gets locked out, it’s Jose to the rescue. “They are real, real happy,” he says. “That makes my job easy, and I love it." 

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