BRIDGEPORT — In children's books, Bill Rawski's office could be called "Everythingland."
But his 36,000 square-foot warehouse in the 3700 block of South Loomis Place already has a name.
It's called Zap Props, Chicago's largest prop warehouse.
Push through the front door and you’ll find a portal to world of out-of-production oddities, historical tokens and knobby machinery you’ve probably seen in a movie without even knowing it.
One of Rawski's old juke boxes anchored a scene in "A League of Their Own." He recently shipped out a load of props to the set of the next "Transformers" film. His stuff has popped up in other films and television shows like "Batman: The Dark Knight," "Home Alone," "Chicago Fire" and "Chicago P.D."
Zap Props is a place packed with so many items it would be futile to try and list them all.
Just how many items are there? Don’t bother asking Rawski. “I have no idea.”
Zap’s collection is something to behold.
A space man and 1950s bicycles suspended from the ceiling.
Rows of phonographs. Stacks of telephones. A pile of "oversized" items, including a giant tooth brush, light bulb and pineapple.
A stuffed beaver, bear and fox.
An Elvis statue. Shelves and shelves of dusty books. A wall of prop guns. Mannequin heads. Bird cages. Gumball machines. Neon signs.
A 1957 Chevy Convertible.
Zap has made its money renting out these props and set dressings for movies, television shows, restaurants and theater productions over the past three decades.
"We put a value on something, and we charge 25 percent," Rawski said. "Maybe a barber chair is worth $800, so we might rent it for $200. We have to put that value on there just in case it gets stolen or damaged so we can charge for that."
You'll find Zap props at local restaurants like Franco's Ristorante, Ricobene's and Tilted Kilt.
To your average theater dweller, Zap Props is a dream come to life. Rawski sees it as a business.
"I'm jaded," Rawski said. He's around this stuff day and night.
Rawski grew up on the West Side, where he spent a lot of his time reading.
His journey as a collector began with books. He read everything he could find, but his favorite book is J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit.” Before the film adaptations came out in the early 2000s, Rawski read the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy every year.
Rawski’s father rented pinball machines and arcade games for a living, and his grandmother ran a junk shop. Young Bill’s first experience with “stuff” was not a good one.
Just before Rawski went away to military school when his was 13, his uncle Eddie took his toy army soldiers and sold them at grandma’s junk store.
"Later on in life Uncle Eddie came to work for me and he paid for that,” Rawski said, laughing.
His favorite part of the job is not one you might expect — studying.
Rawski studied history at DePaul University and his curiosity about the past has never left him. He spends several hours a day reading books and researching the origins of his items.
"With all this around me," Rawski said, "I'm living in history."
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