Citizen Staff/Cory Schaefer
The store front of Sharrows Drugs is all ready as the rest of Columbus gets ready for the shooting of the movie "Public Enemies".
COLUMBUS — Set designers have less than a week left to take about 70 years off the look of downtown Columbus and transform it into the streets John Dillinger would have felt comfortable on.
Street lights have been removed and lines taken off the curbs. Fake walls are in place to show off 20 cent packs of cigarettes, old fashioned hats and dresses, and even appliances that were used back in the day. The Whitney Building, which originally was to be used as an appliance store, has had the merchandise taken away and will now be a vacant building. Although the building houses the Columbus Journal newspaper office, set designers found papers dating back to the 1930s to cover the windows.
By Monday when the stars arrive to shoot "Public Enemies," everything has to be in place. The movie is directed by Michael Mann and is about the life of notorious bank robber Dillinger, played by Johnny Depp.
Set decorator Paul Ryan said the props the crews have been using are from all over the place. "We have buyers who we work with," Ryan said. "The decorators choose the things and lay out the items so it looks like what it is supposed to look like."
Everything has to be time specific, according to Ryan.
"We have even bought some things from some local antique stores," Ryan said, including some lunch counter stools.
Paul Gorton, owner of Carousel Antiques, 132 W. James St., said the designers bought some items from his store.
"They were looking for items from the 1920s and early 1930s," Gorton said. "They bought pretty much all the lighting, tons of clothes and linens, tobacco tins and typewriter ribbon tins. They bought pretty much a little of everything."
Gorton said he does not think the crew was aware of all the antiques that were available in Columbus, which has five antique stores.
"One guy from the props department told me that if they knew how much was here, they probably would have bought more here rather than shipping it in," Gorton said.
"Anytime that you are being period specific, you have to be as accurate as possible," Ryan said. "If you're not, someone will notice if something is not correct. You have to try to be pretty thorough."
The barbershop scene has been the most popular scene among the set decorators, Ryan said.
The city itself has been perfect for the set.
"It's like the town that time forgot," Ryan said. "It's kind of cool."
The attitudes of people in Columbus are also a reflection of that time, Ryan said.
"Everyone is very hospitable and that is nice to see," Ryan said.
Bonnie Halvorson, an art teacher at Columbus Elementary School, said the downtown looks great and the school recently allowed the third-grade students to walk downtown to see the progress.
"They'll remember this forever," Halvorson said. "It would be fun to see if Columbus will leave things like this now."
The students are talking about the movie, Halvorson said.
"I don't think they understand what the movie is about, but they do know who Johnny Depp is," Halvorson said. "They call him JD at school."
Jocelyn Thao was downtown on Tuesday shopping, but said she does love to see the props.
"It's all kind of fun," Thao said. "This is about as much excitement that we will get in Columbus for the next 27 years."