page_title: Portage Park, Chicago
section_title: Neighborhood
hierarchical_section_title: Portage Park, Chicago / Neighborhood
caption_attribution_description: English: Pola Negri film festival at the Portage Theater. Portage Park, Chicago, Chicago.
context_page_description: Portage Park is located on the northwest side of the City of Chicago, Illinois and is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas. Portage Park is bordered by the community areas of Jefferson Park and Forest Glen to the north, Dunning and the suburb of Harwood Heights to the west, Irving Park to the east and Belmont-Cragin to the south.
  The area is notable for its Six Corners outdoor shopping district, centered at the intersection of Irving Park Road, Cicero Avenue and the diagonal Milwaukee Avenue, the Portage Theater and for its namesake - Portage Park. The name of the park was taken from the major portage linking the Des Plaines and Chicago rivers along what is today Irving Park Road. The area was so swampy that in wet weather, Native Americans and trappers were easily able to paddle through the area in either direction without leaving their canoes. In those days, the Des Plaines was perhaps the most significant way to the Illinois, and then on to the Mississippi.
  Portage Park has the largest Polish community in the Chicago Metropolitan Area according to the 2000 census.
context_section_description: The neighborhood of Portage Park is a primarily residential area. The area's building stock is composed primarily of bungalows and two-flats. There are two large business districts in Portage Park; one, Six Corners, at the intersection of Irving, Cicero, and Milwaukee, and another at Belmont and Central extending south into Belmont-Cragin.
  The area was home to a number of movie palaces, among which were the Portage, Patio, and Belpark theaters. While the Belpark is now closed, the Portage Theater has been renovated with public TIF funds and is now home to a performing arts center showing arthouse and silent films. The Patio was privately restored and now hosts musical and theater acts.
  Portage Park is also home to a cluster of architecturally significant churches, and is one of the few neighborhoods on the city's North Side highlighted in Marilyn Chiat's The Spiritual Traveler: Chicago and Illinois. The spires and steeples of these monumental edifices such as St. Ladislaus, St. John of Rila the Wonderworker, St. Bartholomew, St. Ferdinand, and Our Lady of Victory tower over the neighborhood, giving the area much of its charm.
caption: Portage Theater marquee in 2007
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