Old clothes maketh the prop biz

Vintage warehouse in Cooks Falls

By Zoey McGee | For Manor Ink

Cooks Falls, NY – Nestled in this rural hamlet, a large red barn is home to Right to the Moon Alice, a vintage clothing rental warehouse that supplies the film, television and theater industry. Inside are thousands of articles of clothing, inspired by or actually from the 1950s through the 1990s, carefully organized and ready to be used in productions across the country.

Before starting the business, Alice Lindholm and her husband, Ron, were both involved in the entertainment industry. Alice worked as an actress in New York City, mostly doing regional theater, musical comedy and commercials.

“I always wanted to act, ever since I was little. I was very motivated,” she said. She knew exactly what she wanted to do after high school and only applied to one college, Boston University School of Fine Arts. Ron worked on lights for Broadway and was often traveling with productions. The clothing business started small while still living in the city.

Moving to the country

The couple bought their house in Cook Falls in 1982. Ron, who grew up in Montana, loved fishing, so moving to the area was an easy decision. “The stream was like heaven to him,” Lindholm said.

Soon after, they bought the barn a few houses down. Originally built in the late 1800s, it has been expanded over the years and now houses decades worth of clothing.

The larger space encouraged the couple to expand. “The first thing we did was tour colleges,” Alice said. “We bought a big truck, and this was before vintage clothing was really a thing. We would source eclectic clothes, and we did an 18-college tour where we just traveled all the time.” The couple also did shows and had a shop in East Hampton for some time.

When Ron became sick in 2013 and could no longer travel, friends encouraged the couple to focus on growing the business in Cook Falls instead. The couple often sources clothes from stores closing, through donations or items formerly used in productions; recently, they got a huge supply of garments from Amazon Prime’s popular show “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

Supplying just the right items

Today, costume designers fly in from all over to search for clothing at Right to the Moon Alice. They usually visit when a production first begins, pulling the pieces they need. If they later reach out looking for more, Lindholm recalls what they chose the first time and sends similar items. Occasionally, she gets to choose the items herself in the first pull, after production tells her what they need.

Everything in the barn is organized by size, color, time period and socio-economic status. The collection includes enough variety to dress from head to toe over a 40-year timeline – everything from children’s clothes to evening gowns, accessories and much more. To keep the collection in good condition, dehumidifiers run all day, and every piece is dry-cleaned before it goes back into stock.

Notably, the warehouse has supplied clothing for productions including “A Complete Unknown,” “Bruce Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” “American Horror Stories,” “Marty Supreme” and “Law & Order” for flashback scenes. Sometimes the clothing isn’t even worn by actors. For “Marty Supreme,” Lindholm supplied the clothes that filled the racks inside store sets, helping make the scenes look authentic.

Lindholm stresses, though, that the collection is not open to the public and is only for TV and film, not a place to get halloween costumes.

The closest room in the barn connected to the office was built just before Ron passed away, and is dedicated to him. Even after losing Ron, Alice has continued running the business they built together, and it continues to grow. “I’m exceedingly grateful to be up here where I don’t have rent to pay, and I can keep doing this because I really love doing it,” she said. “Especially after losing my husband of 50 years, it continues to give me a purpose because it is something that we built together. I really feel this obligation and joy in continuing it and keeping it maintained and thriving.”