Portage Theater

This Beaux-Arts gem opened as the first movie-only theater on the northwest side. The lobby was renovated in 1940 with a streamlined look to match the newer Art Deco stores nearby. The current marquee was salvaged from Woodlawn’s demolished Tivoli Theater. In 1980, the megaphone-shaped auditorium was multiplexed and awkwardly divided by a wall to add a second screen. Afterward, the theater struggled and closed by 2001. A thoughtful restoration brought it back into use in 2006, and today it presents live events and performances.

Lindley Phelps Rowe, 1920