‘I think that was Tom Hanks.’ Actor pops into Indianapolis shops. Here’s what he bought

When Alexandria Dugan rang up the purchases of a male and female customer at her Old Northside stationery store recently, she thought the guy’s face and voice were familiar.

“As they were checking out I was like, ‘Oh, he kind of looks like Tom Hanks. He kind of sounds like Tom Hanks.” And then they left and I was like, ‘I think that was Tom Hanks,” said Dugan, owner of Semantics Paper Goods, 111 E. 16th St.

It wasn’t until more than a week later when her neighbor Dream Palace Books & Coffee posted to social media a photo of Hanks outside of the shop that she realized it really was the multi-Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker.

Hanks had hit up the Northside Indianapolis businesses on Sept. 28.

Dream Palace owner Taylor Lewandowski didn’t post the photo until last week. He said Hanks asked him not to post the photo for a while.

“He wanted us to wait a week. That was his request,” he said.

Both the shops are in the same building on the ground level.

Tom Hanks’ visit to Northside Indy shops

Hanks and his daughter, E.A. Hanks, had stopped in the bookstore and cafe after the stationery store; and Lewandowski said he nearly missed the visit while working in the back office.

His barista went to the office to report the sighting of Hollywood royalty.

“She came back and was just like, ‘I’m like 90% sure Tom Hanks came in here,” Lewandoski said.

He went out front to investigate and saw that two Dream Palace customers were outside talking with Hanks. That’s where Lewandowski met the actor, who asked about how the year-old shop started.

Hanks posed for photos with the Dream Palace barista and some students from nearby Herron High School across the street.

The encounter was brief, and Lewandowski said he suspects the Hanks didn’t stay long at the bookstore because folks started to recognize him.

He said Hanks told him another Indianapolis bookseller suggested they make a trip to Dream Palace. Dream Palace, in turn, directed Hanks to The Whispering Shelf, 414 N. College, but the actor never made it to that store.

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While Hanks didn’t make a purchase at Dream Palace, he did buy a lot of stuff from the stationery store.

Hanks and daughter — E.A. Hanks is a writer — entered the shop in the afternoon.

“They didn’t really announce themselves or anything. They just came in and started shopping,” Dugan said.

The Hanks were in Semantics for about five minutes, picking out notebooks, letter writing paper, envelopes, pens and postcards, she said.

“They were pretty efficient shoppers. They kind of knew what they had in mind.”

What did Tom Hanks buy from indie Indianapolis stationery store Semantics?

Among the items Hanks took a liking to at the stationery store:

• Shorthand Task Pad Notebooks. Hanks bought several lined rule notebooks with checkboxes. Dugan said he wiped out her stock of forest green pads.

• Letter writing paper and matching envelopes from MD Paper Products, a Japanese brand.

Why was Tom Hanks in Indianapolis?

No word on what brought the actor and his daughter to Indy. The shop owners said they didn’t ask.

EA Hanks might make another trip to the Indy bookstore

Lewandowski said he hopes E.A. Hanks will return to Dream Palace to promote her book “The 10,” due out in 2025.

“She took my email down and said she’d like to do some kind of book signing or event here,” he said. “I hope she reaches out. That’d be great to have her come back and do something.”

Contact IndyStar reporter Cheryl V. Jackson at cheryl.jackson@indystar.com or 317-444-6264. Follow her on X.com: @cherylvjackson.