Say you work in downtown D.C. in or around the Golden Triangle, and your wife calls to say your windows are in dire need of screens, or your husband calls to say he lost his house key, or your kid says she needs a flashlight for her science project.

Or maybe it's spring and you feel the urge to buy tomato seeds.

You could always go to Candey Hardware, on 18th Street, N.W. You want it, Candey had it, even if you didn't need it.

Those of us who satisfied our hardware habit at Candey's are in mourning. The quintessential hometown hardware store, that opened back in 1891 when it stocked buggy whips, is closing this month. Gwen Loftin, granddaughter of the founder, Josiah, is closing for lack of customers.

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A great, old time hardware store is an excellent barometer of a community's health. Any crossroad of four-lane highways can support a Home Depot. You can find a Lowe's every five miles along suburban strip malls. But how many D.C. neighborhoods can sustain a genuine hardware store where you walk in the door and the owner says "Whaddaya need today?'

And you know him, and he knows you, and he has what you need and tells you how to use it, and through those connections, the fabric of your neighborhood is strong.

Looking for an extra house key that only Candey seemed to stock, I went searching for D.C.'s best local hardware stores. Judging by my very unscientific search, D.C. still has plenty of of stores that define and supply their community. My favorites are Fragers on Capitol Hill; True Value on 17th Street above P; and Brookland Hardware.

Fragers is the Big Daddy of corner hardware stores. For one, its storefronts take up the entire block between 11th and 12th Streets on Pennsylvania Avenue. S.E. One storefront will rent you anything from jack hammers to air compressors to extension ladders; the next will fill every painting need. Then there's the actual hardware store.

"Need any help?" Desiree asked when I walked in one afternoon. You won't find a Desiree at Home Depot. Home Depot on Rhode Island Avenue sends customers to Fragers. "It actually helps our business," says general manager Nick Kaplanis.

Brookland Hardware, at 3501 12th Street, N.E., anchors the thriving community around Catholic University. Howard Politzer has owned it for 32 years, cuts keys, answers phones, knows where every nut and bolt is stashed away among the fan belts and wheelbarrow tires and tools and stuff.

"We know our customers," he tells me one afternoon. "We have the reputation of having what they want. We rewire lamps. Who does that anymore? People come from all over the city. Guy wanted a Studebaker key. I had it.

"Price is not an issue when it comes to hardware," he says. "It's all about service."

Yada yada. Can he make me a house key like the one that I could get only at Candey?

No problem. I walked away with four -- and I'll be back for more.

hjaffe@washingtonian.com