The Portage Theater's First Season Back Is Happening Outside the Building

"The foundation will ensure that when the Portage opens again, it's open for another 200 years," owner Chris Bauman told Block Club Chicago in August, while he walked through a lobby that had been empty for years.

That reopening is still about a year away. Even so, the theater at 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave. has already had a busy October. It co-hosted ticketed film screenings, put on a free outdoor movie night and showed a documentary trailer, all without opening its doors. The Portage's revival is being staged across the street and around the corner, and the events filling the Six Corners calendar this fall are a working preview of what the building plans to host once it reopens.

Two Marquees, Both Dark

Six Corners has two historic theaters a few blocks apart, and as of this fall, neither is open.

• Portage Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave. Built in 1920, it ran as a cinema until 2001. Several operators followed, hosting concerts, children's dance recitals, day camps and silent film screenings, and the building has been vacant since 2018. In May 2024 it was named one of the most endangered historic sites in Illinois.
• Patio Theater, 6008 W. Irving Park Road. Bauman bought it in 2019, and over the next five years it hosted concerts, dance performances, a Disney princess movie party and thrift markets. Its ownership was restructured, and Bauman remains a partial owner. As of late August, the Patio was closed for renovations.

The Patio has paperwork moving. Nadig Newspapers reported in April that its licenses expired in May 2025 and were renewed six months later. A masonry repair permit was issued in March 2026, and a permit for replacement fire escapes was still pending. That same month, Bauman told Block Club the Patio could reopen by fall. Block Club's next update on the Patio, in late August, still described it as closed for renovations.

The Portage is the one with a public timeline and a fundraising machine attached to it, so it is the one producing events.

How the Portage Got Back to Square One

The restoration only got clear legal standing this spring. Bauman's company, Zenith Music Group, bought the theater in fall 2025. It paid off more than $500,000 in back taxes, took over payments on the protective canopy under the damaged marquee and started cleaning the interior. In April, a city attorney confirmed in court that the receiver appointed to maintain the building had been discharged and that Bauman's engineering report had been approved. The city was waiting on permit applications for repairs, and a status hearing was set for June 11.

"It's fully in our hands now, which is exciting," Bauman told Block Club at the time.

Bauman also has a history with this building. He organized events at the Portage from 2014 to 2018 and later founded the Avondale Music Hall. In August he launched the Portage Theater Foundation, a nonprofit with a goal of raising $3 million to reopen the theater in about a year. Further renovations would follow in phases after that.

The Restoration To-Do List

According to Block Club's August reporting, Bauman described interior damage that is largely cosmetic and a building with no structural issues. The work he laid out, roughly in order:

1. The marquee. Repairs come first. The marquee has structural damage and has been propped by a canopy for more than a year. Bauman said in late August that work replacing the metal and brickwork would begin within 30 to 60 days.
2. Restrooms. The building goes from eight stalls to 24, plus an ADA-accessible family bathroom.
3. Lobby and backstage. Plans include stars in the lobby honoring artists who sold out the theater, and a new green room.
4. The auditorium ceiling. Decorative lighting will highlight the ornate ceiling design.
5. Next door. The small storefront beside the theater becomes a music-themed bar.

Once restored, the Portage would hold about 1,499 people. The bathroom count tells you what size of crowd the plan expects. Eight stalls served a building that had been hosting recitals and day camps. Twenty-four is sized for full-house concerts.

Across the Street: Filament as the Stand-In Stage

The first real test of the Portage's future programming took place at 4041 N. Milwaukee Ave., directly across the street at Filament Theatre, a nonprofit that creates theater for children and families.

Filament had its own trouble this year. Block Club reported in early August that the theater's basement was still drying out after summer flooding, and Filament's stated goal was to be fully flood-recovered by November.

In early October, the two theaters co-hosted three screenings of "The Nightmare Before Christmas" at Filament. Tickets were $15 for adults and $10 for children 10 and under. Each screening came with snacks, tarot card readings and photo opportunities. The Sunday morning showing was edited for kids, with fewer spooky elements, and held in a carpeted open-floor area with pillows. Proceeds went to Filament's support programs and to the Portage renovation.

Before each screening, the audience watched a trailer for a documentary about the restoration. Bauman is producing it with filmmaker Michelle Tkachenko Weaver. The Portage's first public program in years was, in part, a film about the Portage.

Set that format beside what Bauman says he wants once the doors open: "an ever-changing calendar of events, from movie marathons to high school plays," with concerts, film screenings, indoor markets and local theater in the mix, as Block Club reported. A family film night with a kid-friendly matinee falls squarely within that range.

The Parking Lot and the Newsstand

The foundation then took the format outdoors. On Oct. 16, it hosted a free screening of "Hocus Pocus" outside the Six Corners Culver's at 4939 W. Irving Park Road, with face painting, a free raffle and custard starting at 5 p.m. before the 6:30 p.m. movie.

The Six Corners Chamber of Commerce found a different use for the closed buildings. Its Ghost Tour 2026 was scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 28, with $12 tours departing at 6 and 7 p.m. from City News Cafe at 4018 N. Cicero Ave. The Chamber's listing promises "a paranormal adventure through abandoned theaters and a historic building." The tour is a fall fixture. The Chamber ran it on Oct. 22 in 2025 and Oct. 30 in 2024, each time with the same two departure times.

The meeting point has deep roots at the intersection. According to City Newsstand's own history, Joe Angelastri opened his corner newsstand on May 16, 1978, and later grew it into a large magazine store. The 4018 N. Cicero location was renovated to add a café, which is how City News Cafe came to exist. A tour about the neighborhood's lost venues now starts at one of the longest-running businesses still operating at the intersection.

What's Left on the Fall Calendar

Scary Business Saturday takes place on the same Milwaukee Avenue stretch as the Portage and Filament, and registration runs through the Chamber's event page. Both November shows are part of Filament's Community Jam series, with tickets linked from the Filament schedule.

Getting Inside Before Opening Night

The foundation has made the restoration something people can take part in. According to Block Club, a $500 donation puts a personalized tile in the theater's entry area, $200 buys a custom message on the marquee for one day, and $50 or more earns a collectible Portage Theater certificate. Bauman is also talking with major donors and pursuing city grants.

The foundation is looking for volunteers to help with marketing, fundraising and cleaning up the building itself. Sign-up is through the foundation's volunteer page, and donations go through its giving page. The foundation's homepage invites neighbors to subscribe for announcements of upcoming gatherings, which is where the next screening will likely be posted first.

The marquee comes first on the work list. When the scaffolding comes down, Milwaukee Avenue will get its first look at the restored sign, and new names on it will be the clearest sign that the timeline is holding.

Historic buildings like the Portage and the Patio shape how a block feels day to day, and Jason O'Beirne tracks how projects like these move around Six Corners. If you live near Milwaukee and Irving Park and want a clear read on what the restoration timeline could mean for your block, schedule a consultation.