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Hollywood prop house closing with auction

A potential buyer browses the inventory of 20th Century Props in North Hollywood, Calif., on Tuesday. The prop house plans to close and is auctioning off its inventory.

By LOS ANGELES (AP)

Published: Friday, July 31, 2009 1:38 PM CDT

- When Harvey Schwartz left his job as an aerospace engineer and opened an antique shop, he ignited a passion that led to a 40-year career.

Harvey's Antiques spawned Harvey's Props, which eventually became 20th Century Props, described by Schwartz as “the biggest prop house in the world under one roof.”

But no more. Schwartz's inventory of more than 93,000 pieces - including foam aliens, vintage furniture and appliances, carousel horses, Roman sculptures and other assorted props from film and TV - is being liquidated. A slowdown in the economy and Hollywood productions is forcing him to close his doors. He expects his 200,000-squarefoot warehouse in North Hollywood to be “broom clean” by Aug. 15.

“It's the end of an era,” he said. “I have to just walk away and say goodbye.”

The Great American Group is selling the pieces at auction through Saturday.

Schwartz is letting go of thousands of chairs, dozens of desks, scores of old typewriters, an Egyptian sarcophagus, a giant genie lamp and a lifesize mummy. He's also saying goodbye to a 6-foot-tall purple sea horse, a set of metal morgue cases and a half-dozen torch-bearing gargoyles.

There are cases of test tubes and Bunsen burners; beauty salon chairs with oldfashioned hairdryers; stacks of church pews; cases and cases of books; antique Coke machines; stoves and refrigerators from every era; a 5-foot-tall catfish dressed as a chef; and, of course, the kitchen sink.

Schwartz picked out each item. “I just bought my own taste and went everywhere in the world to purchase it,” he said.

Schwartz's antique shop specialized in art-deco furniture. (“I kind of liked it because it was straight lines, circles and squares - I was an engineer so I understood straight lines, circles and squares.”) The crew behind “Blade Runner” bought many of his pieces and rented others. So he became a prop man.

To view the entire article, please go to our e-edition/">e-edition.


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