The Lost Eras antique shop overflows with old telephones, fedoras, uranium glassware and other items seen not only by patrons, but also millions of movie and TV fans.
On a recent workday, owner Charlotte Walters pointed out the rug used in the death scene for Sean Connery’s character in “The Untouchables.” She also pulled out some lights from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Studios.
Hidden somewhere, she said, are shoes worn by a background actor on the set of “True Lies.”
But in plain view near a taxidermic shark was a “Public Enemies” movie poster of Johnny Depp in an outfit from the Rogers Park shop.
“I was honored,” Walters said of the attire being featured in the promotion. “We didn’t get those clothes back, though.”
Illinois’ film business has started to bounce back from an industry slowdown due to COVID-19 and 2023 strikes, and vintage shops and prop houses are seeing more action, too. Recently prop masters and set designers have visited Chicago shops to rent and buy items for “Dark Matter” on AppleTV+ and “Monster: The Original Monster” on Netflix.
In January 2023, the booming market prompted the large, California-based ISS Props to open a Chicago branch on the Lower West Side. State incentive programs, like the Illinois film tax credit, have contributed to the increase in production, said Hayden Bilson, vice president of business development at ISS Props. And local businesses are profiting.
“A lot of these antique shops or little retail environments noticed that that is a huge draw of business and there’s a lot of money to be spent,” Bilson said. “So they adopt a rental business model. One of the benefits of the incentive programs is that it does spread the money out all over the state to tons of different businesses.”
The growth of the industry has helped the success of Zap Props, a 36,000-square-foot warehouse in McKinley Park. Owner William Rawski started his collection in 1989 with a single antique: a 1930s Marx Merry Makers Band of toy mice. A few years later, “A League of Their Own” was borrowing a jukebox for the roadhouse scene. Then, “Home Alone 2” rented a Ferris wheel featured in the Duncan’s Toy Chest scene.
“I still remember, as a kid, watching the scene,” said Rawski’s daughter, Madeline, who is now the director of operations at the shop. “It looked so majestic and cool. But it was really made out of paper. That thing fell apart eventually.”
Requests from countless other films and TV shows followed over the next three decades. Rawski said the most-rented items include generic, timeless set pieces like street lights that can be seen in season four of “Fargo” on FX, as well as Hulu’s “Deli Boys.”
Rawski said they received so many requests for a broadcast TV news desk that they recently built one themselves.
“Every time the phone rings, you don’t know what someone’s going to be asking for,” she said. “And people walk in and it can be overwhelming. So I like being able to help them hone in on what their vision is and how what we have fits.”
Both Zap Props and Salvage One are helping Netflix bring the story of a murderer to life. The shops contributed items for season three of Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan’s “Monster” series, which focuses on serial killer Ed Gein, who came to be known as “the butcher of Plainfield.” Salvage One owner Jane Rodak said the production rented a desk that was once used for watch repair, as well as a carpenter’s bench and stool.
A few years ago, the shop loaned a white dresser to “Shining Girls” (originally called “Ripple Effects”) on Apple TV+. And one time, “Chicago Fire” filmed a scene featuring characters shopping for a door inside the store.
Rodak said the rentals are just a small side venture for the West Town architectural salvage store, which preserves mantels, columns, stained glass windows, sinks and other elements from Chicago buildings. But she has noticed an uptick in customers following episodes of HGTV’s “Windy City Rehab” that feature the store.
“I think it’s wonderful that there’s so much going on in the city,” she said of the local film industry. “It’s fun to be part of someone’s creative process.”
While shops like Salvage One contribute a lot of set design pieces, ISS Props sets itself apart by offering a variety of hand props. Productions can rent everything from replica weapons and dumbbells to cameras and cellphones. Visitors to the Chicago branch can also browse “The Corner Store,” a bodega of fictional, generic products that productions can use instead of brand-named items. The company’s “Let’s Potato Chips” and “Heisler” beer have even developed cult followings after appearing in multiple shows.
Founded in the 1970s out of a garage, ISS Props now has over 1.5 million items in its inventory, as well as locations throughout the U.S. and Europe. The Chicago branch is managed by Vicky Chan, a former prop master who previously worked on several shows, including the eccentric comedy “Dave,” which aired on FX and Hulu.
“You don’t even want to see my Google search list for that show,” Chan said, laughing.
Now working to help other prop masters, Chan said she enjoys finding the perfect match. The process involves asking a long list of questions about a production’s time period, color scheme, characters and more.
“I think that challenge is really exciting,” she said.