Portage Theatre
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60641
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue,
Chicago,
IL
60641
38 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: ABC Theatres, Ascher Brothers Inc., Balaban & Katz Corp., Fox Circuit, G.C.S. Circuit, M & R Theatres
Architects: Walter W. Ahlschlager, Mark D. Kalischer, Lindley Phelps Rowe
Styles: Neo-Classical, Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Portage Park Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Oct 28, 2014 — Matt Lambros Lecture in Chicago
- Nov 10, 2013 — Northwest Chicago Film Society is moving again
- Sep 11, 2013 — Chicago movie palaces today
- Jul 19, 2013 — New operators sought out for Chicago movie palaces
- May 30, 2013 — Community groups scramble after Portage Theater closes
- Apr 30, 2013 — 35mm screenings at the Portage Theater
- Mar 16, 2013 — Celebrate "Mary Pickford, Queen of the Movies" at the Portage and Music Box in Chicago
- Sep 24, 2012 — Trying times for the Portage Theater
- Sep 13, 2012 — Chicago's Portage Theater has new owner
- Jul 22, 2012 — Church withdraws attempt to buy historic Portage Theater
- Jun 14, 2012 — Portage fate to be determined
- Apr 22, 2012 — Portage Theater fate still in suspense
- Apr 3, 2012 — Portage may get landmark status
- Mar 28, 2012 — Supporters rally to save Portage Theater
- Mar 15, 2012 — Church wants to buy Chicago's Portage Theater
- Mar 8, 2011 — A Chicago classic film series finds a new home
- Jul 14, 2010 — Summer silent film series begins July 23 at Portage Theater
- Oct 8, 2009 — Chicago theatres featured on public tv
- Sep 1, 2009 — Star Trek Film Marathon and Expo to be at the historic Portage Theater
- Jan 14, 2008 — How the Portage came back
- Sep 14, 2007 — Preserving Palaces Film Festival Sept. 14-15
- Aug 30, 2007 — 'Preserving Palaces' filmfest in Chicago, Sept. 14-15
- May 19, 2006 — Chicago's Portage Theater Reopening Tonight
- Nov 24, 2003 — Chicago: Three Centuries of Theaters
- Nov 19, 2003 — Update on Portage Park Theatre
- Nov 12, 2003 — Portage Park Theatre Struggles to Open
Opened December 11, 1920 with Jack Pickford in “Just Out of College”. The Portage Park Theatre (the former name is still inscribed over the Neo-Classical style facade), was the first theatre built specifically for movies (and not vaudeville shows) in the Portage Park neighborhood of Chicago. The theatre was built for Fridstein & Co. and originally could seat nearly 2,000. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3 manual organ. Later taken over by the Ascher Brothers circuit. By 1929 it was operated by Fox Chicago.
The Portage Theatre was modernised by the G.C.S. Circuit and reopened on March 4, 1940 with the animated feature “Gulliver’s Travels” & Charles Laughton in “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”. It remained a popular fixture of the neighborhood for decades, becoming a second-run movie house in the 1960’s. In the 1980’s, its auditorium was divided in two by putting a wall down the middle of the auditorium.
Oddly, after the box office stopped being used, tickets were then sold in the lobby off a table and folding chairs set up school bake sale style.
The Portage Theatre was shuttered in 2001 after operating sporadically for the previous couple years. The theatre was restored and renovated, to reopen in the spring of 2006 as a single-screen, 1,300-plus seat theatre featuring both silent and sound classic motion pictures and other events, both on-screen and live.
It was closed on May 25, 2013, and reopened in June 2014. It was closed in February 2018. In March 2025 it was taken over by the operator of the Patio Theatre with plans to reopen as a community space.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 221 comments)
Unauthorized rave attempted last weekend; didn’t last long. Block Club Chicago story here.
Henry L. Newhouse was not the architect for the Portage. Lindley Phelps Rowe for Fridstein & Co. are the architect of record while other primary sources suggest that the theater itself was subcontracted to Walter W. Ahlschlager. (https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433057658795&seq=960)
Block Club Chicago article:
Portage Theater Named One Of Illinois’ Most Endangered Sites: ‘We’re Losing Time’
https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/05/07/portage-theater-named-one-of-illinois-most-endangered-sites-were-losing-time/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3dBb1TO8sL-X8WZOILqLzOkn2q0ZMQSruPqOO9tf5gtQsKz4IokEQLX-Y_aem_ATGubJMIEf9mo48Maok-L9_pKPwz7kPgsbmTYJzSZ9pRPjmEjagdIxCvFu0MgvPzpLAnFu3MMaPA4IM6XFHthoMK
City suing over needed immediate repairs.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2024/10/28/historic-portage-theater-deteriorating-as-city-pushes-owner-to-make-urgent-repairs-were-sick-of-this/
“Historic Portage Theater Could Go Into Receivership As Owner Gives Up Property” Attorneys said Thursday the theater’s owners filed a motion to withdraw from the property. Community leaders said they feel like plans to restore the theater are “back at square one.” Below article credit Molly DeVore for Block Club Chicago.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/03/21/historic-portage-theater-could-go-into-receivership-as-owner-gives-up-property/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJKZ6RleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQm6l4DlCQUkD7RlsqUuBYFFDgCxC3bO9JYIBXLpcF-Vd7ZvjWQVEUkfVQ_aem_oSKA3yTCxlR3bkyxvp6n4A
Atty. James Erwin represents a potential buyer who says his client “would like to see the theater preserved and returned to its use” as a showplace.
Erwin did not name his client, but he said they work in real estate and have many multi-unit buildings on the Northwest Side. Erwin did not respond to requests for comment after Thursday’s hearing. Over $228,000 in taxes on the property are due, and Chicago Neighborhood Resources Advisors LLC is to do a study on redeeming both the overdue taxes and the cost of repairs including shoring up the weakened marquee. Then, if CNRA is appointed receiver, it can stabilize the marquee. Atty. Erwin said his client anticipates working with CNRA. A tax hearing is set for 10am on May 8.
The Portage Theatre closed as a cinema in 2001 but was used sporadically, became a City Landmark in May, 2013, was abandoned in 2018, and was named one of Illinois’s most endangered historic sites.
The shuttered Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., is under contract to be sold for $25,000 to Chris Bauman, founder of the Zenith Music Group that has operated the Patio Theater and Avondale Music Hall, according to recent court testimony.
Any buyer of the theater would presumably also have to pay the county more than $500,000 in back taxes, Curt Bettiker, the count-appointed receiver for the theater, said at a Sept. 11 housing court hearing.
The city of Chicago last year took the theater’s ownership to court over building code issues. A receivership was appointed to help secure and maintain the building after the ownership or its representatives stopped attending court hearings on the matter.
It was reported at the hearing that the Portage Theater LLC has entered a sales contract to sell the theater to Bauman. Bauman took over operations of the Patio in 2018 but around a year ago another entity took the helm at the Patio, according to Alderman Nicholas Sposato (38th). A license for the Patio expired on May and there is no active business license for 6008 W. Irving Park Road, the theater’s address, according to the city Department of Business Affairs.
No representatives of Bauman nor the Portage Theater LLC were at the Sept. 11 court hearing.
Bettiker, who represents Chicagoland Neighborhood Resources LLC, said that he has been contacted several times about the need for someone to get into the theater to read a water meter so that the sale of the property can proceed. However, it was reported at the hearing that the meter may be located in the residential portion of the building, which has a different owner.
As receiver, Bettiker has control over the theater’s locks and he said that an alarm system needs to be installed.
“There’s a number of kids breaking into the building literally to just hang out,” Bettiker said.
If the deal with Bauman is not finished by the next court hearing, scheduled for Oct. 16, city attorney Glenn Angel said that the city may ask the court to give Bettiker permission to sell the theater.
At the hearing, Bettiker told another potential buyer, “My hands are kind of tied. The owner still owns the building. … We have to let the contract (with Bauman) play out.”
It was reported at the hearing that the name of a “known real estate investor” was on the sales contract, but the person was not identified.
Currently scaffolding is in place in the front of theater due to safety concerns regarding the marquee. “It’s protecting the public way for when it falls,” Bettiker said.
The theater’s ownership was not covering the cost of city permit fees for the scaffolding, prompting the need for the receivership to pay those fees.
Also at the hearing, a lawyer reported that his client has an $80,000 mechanics lien against the property for unpaid services.
The Portage Theater is a city landmark, and a representative of Preservation Chicago attended the court hearing.
(Brian Nadig, Nadig Newspapers)
New owner from the Patio since March. New plans. Copy & paste or open in new Tab to view.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2025/10/24/historic-portage-theater-has-a-new-owner-who-plans-to-revive-it-as-a-community-space/
Status should be restoring/ renovating. https://nadignewspapers.com/back-taxes-paid-on-portage-theater-as-process-of-reopening-iconic-venue-continues-to-move-forward/
Actual 2001 closure date is January 14, 2001.