Portage Theatre
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60641
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60641
38 people
favorited this theater
Showing 126 - 150 of 215 comments
The Six Corners Business District will host its inaugural Six Corners Monster Film Festival at the Portage Theater Friday Oct 27th – Tuesday October 31st. Monsters will roam the streets of Six Corners, Pedicabs will deliver patrons to the world famous Fantasy Costume Headquarters and a variety of fabulous restaurants.
Svengoolie will make a guest appearance and sign autographs on opening night. The theater lobby will be decorated in a haunted house theme and each night will host a costume contest (dress as a character from the movie) for additional information go to our web site http://www.sixcornerschicago.com/monsters
The purpose of this event is to promote the Portage Theater and the six corners shopping district. We hope to host events like this several times a year to promote the neighborhood, the commercial district and the theater.
I stumbled on this site with great nostalgia. I grew up near Harlm and Irving and my first job as a 16 year-old (1964) was as an usher at the Portage. I met my first girlfriend there, she worked behind the candy counter. I have fond memories of the people who worked there: the 80+ year old projectionist, the seemingly ancient (to a 16 year old) ticket-taker (Sam) who would shuffle across the lobby to his station at the wall-to-wall glass entranceway, the manager who kept the office door locked while “confering” with the head candy girl, and the red jacket, blue pants and bow tie the ushers were required to wear.
Ah…the old days.
The official site is up at http://www.portagetheater.org Watch for details on the Silent Summer Film Festival, coming July 19 to August 25.
We’re working on a website, temporarily up at http://www.hopetunnel.org/portage Nothing much yet, and not all the links work.
There will be a Chamber of Commerce event this Saturday, with a screening of Pirates of the Caribbean at 6:30 P.M.
They’re doing the “Serenity” charity benefit on June 23. Details at: http://www.serenity.reversedrive.com/
They’re showing Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein and To Be or Not to Be this weekend
Here is another recent interior shot
More stuff coming up – Next weekend, June 3 & 4, will be That Night in Rio and Weekend in Havana. Love will be shown June 22-25.
Please correct: In the 80s, its auditorium was divided in two, and the interior received a modernization in which much of the little that remained of its original decor was lost.
Is not true!~
The division project simply built a wall in the not-exactly-middle of the auditorium. Very little original decor was lost. Aside from long-gone (and kind of ugly light fixtures), the auditorium retains almost all of its decorative plaster and details.
It has been lovingly renovated for single-screen presentation!
In addition to the Silent Film Festival, the Portage is showing Call Northside 777 and Niagara several times over Memorial Day weekend, and Friends of the Uptown will be presenting Uptown: Portrait of a Palace at 8:00 P.M. on June 8. Also coming up is Vladan Nikloic’s Love.
Organist Mark Noller did a great job accompanying the Chaplin films for the Portage Theater’s opening program to the delight of the 1,000 plus in attendance. Mark is house organist at Chicago’s Music Box Theatre and is regularly featured by the Silent Film Society of Chicago along with associate organists Dennis Scott and Jay Warren.
The seats are the largely same ones that were in there when it was a twin. Seating has been reduced to 1321 due to a much-expanded stage, larger seats, and deeper aisles. Also as an interesting note, the original (tiny) stage and proscenium is still behind the screen, blacked out so as to not interfere with the modern screen, now among the largest in Chicagoland.
I was there yesterday (5/21/2006) for the 6:30pm showing of MODERN TIMES. There were only about a dozen people in the auditorium. I hope that the owners of the Portage can keep the momentum going and earn enough to keep the place open!
They did a good job of restoring the place. Maybe not as elaborate as the Tivoli in Downers Grove, but nice nevertheless. The seats installed there seem like they were re-used from another theatre. They are comfortable but do not have cup holders. They are however staggered so that everybody has a good view.
I never thought I’d see the place re-open. The last movie I saw there was PREDATOR (circa 1990). Even though the place had been twinned, it hadn’t been cleaned.
Best of luck to the new owners!
BTW, the posting needs to be updated. It should now be listed as “open” with a single screen. The function should be “classic & silent films.”
Since it looks like the people who had responsibility for opening up the Portage reads these posts, I just wanted to say thank you for my wonderful weekend!! I saw a Charlie Chaplin film on the 19th and another today on the 21st. Thank you so much for reopening this theater. I used to come here in the 80s and since I don’t live that far away, I plan on coming a lot more to support you.
I never saw a silent film on the big screen before, nor have I ever saw one with a live organ player. Thank you for sharing that experience with me!!
I just wanted to tell you that it was so nice to share a small piece of my childhood with my wife. Thank you so much for that!! Although I’m not a big silent film buff, I would be more than happy to join your organization if it will help keep the Portage going. You did a great job!!! Thank you so much again!! I hope there will be more people on the NW side supporting you as well!!
Best Regards,
Tony
Boy is that ever an improvement!
Here are some photos of the inside & outside of the Portage, taken today:
View link
The Portage opens May 19th. Check out silentfilmchicago.com
Devotees of the Portage:
I haven’t heard much about when the Portage is set to start showing films again regularly or putting on shows, but I have hear that there will be some kind of a screening there on June 8th with some documentaries pertaining to Uptown and its own dormant theater. Should be a gas! The Portage Lives!
Cool.
Yes and yes. Although I was never inside the theater before, I was shown pictures of it and it appeared in very poor shape indeed. It’s been repainted inside and is very quaint and cozy. Although it doesn’t really qualify as a restoration, it is done very tastefully and resembles the original decor to a large extent. Really the only major differences from pictures dating to the original is paint, and the old organ false balconies were removed when ‘scope came in, and boxes on the rear walls were enclosed not long after opening. Any drapery on the sidewalls is gone. They’ve done a ton of work and a great job, I think you’ll be very pleasantly surprised to see what it looks like now. Dennis used to manage the Gateway and yes, it was the same festival that was held there, although they should be happening more frequently now that they have a permanent home. SFC also continues to do screenings at other theaters like the Arcada and Pickwick.
Brian: two questions…
1) Have you seen the inside of the theatre? What condition is it in? I have heard that they removed the dividing wall between cinema I & II. But the last time I saw the theatre in ‘89 it was painted black and covered with typical M&R drapes. Have they done any work to make the auditorium look better?
2) Is this the same silent film festival that was held at the Gateway in the mid-90’s?
The Portage is set to reopen Friday, May 19 with Silent Film Chicago’s Spring Silent Film Festival. Tickets are now on sale. http://www.silentfilmchicago.com/
I hope that they reopen it, and soon. I am a native of Jefferson Park (next to Portage Park) and when I was by there last week I saw that the front doors (glass) were all uncovered and I could see inside all the way back to the concesssion stand. The inside looked very clean and clearly someone was getting it ready for something. I can say that the concession stand was very small. I vagely remember that theatre when I was a kid back in the 80’s. I saw some kind of cartoon there or something like that. I would love to hear when the theatre will open up again. I am currently out of Chicago, out of state acutally running a 15 screen theatre. When I come back to Chicago again next month to visit all, I would love to see the inside of that place.
That and the Patio.
Ben
Is the Portage going to open soon?
In contrast to the bustling six corners of the 1950s, as seen in this previously-posted picture, It was a much different place in the 1920s when the theater rose. Here are four pictures from the Chicago Daily News, taken in 1922. 1 2 3 4 Notice that in photos 1, 2, and 3, the Portage Park Theatre’s smokestack is visible. The facade would probably be partly visible if the photos were higher resolution. Also notice that the corner store shown in these pictures remains there; here is how it looks now, for reference.