URBAN ART

One of them played a leading roles in last year’s film “Dead Again.” Another was regularly featured in “thirtysomething” and one had a small supporting role in “Article 99.”

An actor? A dog? A special effect? No, a piece of furniture. Mission oak furniture to be precise. Those boxy, simple, but well-made chairs, tables and couches that came out of the Arts and Crafts movement more than 70 years ago are the new industry ingenues, seen in nearly every movie, television show and all the best living rooms.

“Hollywood has definitely played a strong part in popularizing Arts and Crafts furniture,” says Gus Bostrom of the Arts and Crafts Emporium on La Brea. Bostrom, whose gallery contains pieces by renowned designers such as Gustav Stickley and Greene and Greene, has been working with Mission furniture for more than 11 years and he’s only 22. His assistant, Melissa Weber, calls him the “Doogie Howser of Mission oak.” The demand is so high in Los Angeles that Bostrom recently moved his operation from San Francisco. “Because there was never any manufacturer of Mission pieces on the West Coast, they are somewhat rare,” says Bostrom, who combs antique stores and auctions in the Northeast, where prices are 50%, sometimes 75%, lower. “Outside of New York, there is nowhere in tbe country where the demand is higher. People like (producer) Joel Silver and Barbra Streisand really made it the furniture to collect.” But will it ever get an Oscar nomination?