Portage Theatre
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60641
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60641
37 people
favorited this theater
Showing 101 - 125 of 213 comments
According to a news item in the Chicago Sun, Wednesday, January 7, 1942, B&K purchased the Portage, Admiral and Drake theatres.
And thanks G. Feret for the info on Miss Rivers—-adds to the theatre’s already interesting history …
PORTAGE theatre trivia: JOAN RIVERS introduced her (directed) “RABBIT TEST' there in-person in 1978. Just thought you’d like to know.
The Portage is having its first annual Christmas Spectacular on Friday, December 15, with Santa, the Revolutionary Swing Orchestra, a Christmas sing-along with the great Jay Warren at the organ, and a showing of White Christmas. See http://www.portagetheater.org/Dec15.pdf for details.
Here are photos of this theater.
Give Dennis a call at the theater and he will give you my info. Looking forward to speaking with you
I’ve never been too keen on putting my email address out there. I would also rather not set up a date and time through this message board. That being said, I’d be happy to talk with you if you let me know how you can be reached.
The Portage not only is thriving it Rocks. That event was brought to you by the same neighborhood people. We were thrilled with the response and are planning a second for next year.
PS. I really want to speak with you we have to set up a time to have a private chat – let me know when and where
You know, as it happens I had to drive by the Portage while that Svengoolie thing was going on. Traffic was actually jammed up on Milwaukee Avenue in front of the Portage!
Life’s too short…there are alot of things we were all led to believe. Unfortunately some believed longer than others and some got it a little sooner than others. The great news is that as a result of our blood, sweat, tears and perseverance our beloved Portage Theater is now open and bringing Chicagoans wonderful events such as the one I posted above. It has not been subdivided into pieces or turned into condo’s and it is thriving. Dennis is doing an awesome job his staff is fabulous to work with and he is bringing a new face and new life to our community. We are thrilled to have him here.
See that? Exactly what I am talking about. Bravo Dennis. Bravo!
Check this out….The Portage Theater’s First Annual Christmas Spectacular. Friday December 15th 7pm. Join Santa and his Portage Theater Elves as he lights the official Portage Christmas Tree. Followed by music by the fabulous 18 piece Revolutionary Swing Orchestra, a Christmas carol sing along and a showing of White Christmas. Check the Portage Theater web site for more details.
I heard that a process server showed up at the Portage a few weeks ago looking for someone named Paul. But the last name wasn’t Fortini.
It’s good to see that dealing with the City of Chicago and neighborhood leaders is not as impossible of a task as some might have led us to believe.
Here’s a great recent shot of the Portage. In fact, it’s so recent, it says it was taken tomorrow.
LittleBird,
It does seem like the evening was a success. Our only complaint was that the seats needed either refurbishing or replacing. But that was a minor complaint and we think that will occur in time. One thing at a time, right?
I don’t know if it is too late for suggestions, but here are some:
1) Concerts, especially fundraisers, which could feature Chicago/Illinois talent such as Billy Corgan, Wilco, Buddy Guy, Son Volt, Robbie Fulks, BoDeans (okay, they’re Milwaukee, but they are still popular in Chicago).
2) Midnight movies such as DEATH RACE 2000, FASTER PUSSYCAT KILL KILL, STOP MAKING SENSE, THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, WINGS OVER THE WORLD, SONG REMAINS THE SAME, DUEL, etc.
3) Film festivals, such as by actor/actress, director.
4) Film festivals of movies that were “just beneath the radar”.
5) A film festival of the Christopher Guest/Harry Shearer/Micheal McKeon “Mockumentaries”—Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Mighty Wind, Best in Show".
Paul, I’m glad you came out to the Portage on Friday Night – This event was organized by a group of residents (myself included) and the Six Corners Association. We really had alot of fun planning the event and hope to plan several similar events in the future including but not limited to the 2nd Annual Monster Film Festival (we are thinking of going 3D for this one)Oct 26 – Oct 31, 2007. We were thrilled to see a line of people down the block and around the corner it proves yet again that people are interested in the Portage Theater. Some ideas for future shows are a Godzilla Fest, Star Trek Fest, Cartoon Saturday and more. Please keep checking the Portage website for updates or go to www.sixcornerschicago.com for more info. Thanks again for attending the event.
If you have any other ideas please let me know we are meeting to discuss future events next week I would love to hear them.
Today’s was a trip to the Harold Washington library, to use the Art Institute’s Avery Index. I was looking to see if there was anything on the Adelphi, Pickwick, and Esquire, (I copied beautiful photos of all three,) and while I was waiting for more journals to be pulled I thought i’d look up the renovation architect’s name in the Tribune archives. So that’s how. I had the name before, for the Adelphi, but I guess it never occurred to me to look.
Where do you find this stuff B?!?!
The Portage’s 1940 modernization was by Mark D. Kalischer, who also remodeled the Adelphi and Harper (Hyde Park)
Per my above comment, I forgot to add the letter (B) to my comment about smaller independent theatres!
My girlfriend and I went to see THE MUMMY here last night (10/27/2006). Rich Koz made an appearance as his SVENGOOLIE character. He made a “star entrance”, riding up in an old hearse. The red carpet was laid out for him and his “entourage”—some cheerleaders, a guy in a mummy suit and a guy in a Frankenstein’s Monster suit. For those of you who don’t know who Rich Koz is, he works for WCIU-TV 26. He is the last on-air local entertainment TV host (ie not news nor Public TV) in Chicago. He hosts a Three Stooges show as himself and he does the SVENGOOLIE show, which is old monster movies. Click here http://home.comcast.net/~grotto1/richkoz2.html or here http://www.wciu.com/ for further information on him.
The theatre was fairly crowded for this. The line to get in for people who pre-purchased their tickets, was down the block and around the corner. This takes me back to the days when (A) Chicago was a haven for diverse, local programming (Bozo/Bob Bell, Ray Rayner, Frazier Thomas, etc). It also reminds me of the days when smaller independent theatres HAD monster movie festivals and other special programming. Hey, even Plitt’s Will Rogers Theatre on Belmont Avenue did live children’s shows into the 1970s!
I think that if the remaining small houses such as the LaGrange, the Pickwick, the Logan did more film festivals and made it fun to attend, and reached out to their respective communities for support, people would go! They sure did last night.
The Chicago Horror Film Festival is at the Portage this weekend (October 6-8, 2006). I haven’t been in the Portage in over 5 years and can’t wait to see the theatre in its newly restored glory!.
http://chicagohorrorfest.com
I would love to have you attend the film festival we have so much to talk about. The Portage Theater has all of a sudden taken off most weekends for the month of October are now booked up and more are coming including an NBC casting call. check out their web site for more details of what is happening at our beloved Portage Theater.
www.portagetheater.org
Great idea!
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.