Granolatown

New TV series Portlandia skewers the subcultural silliness of Oregon’s wheat germ-soaked city

Portland, we’ve learned thanks to the new counter culture touchstone of Independent Film Channel television series Portlandia, is where young people go to retire. The city’s comfortably close doppelganger, Portlandia, is where artists like to decorate zealously with scanty bird drawings. And where the mantra “Oi! Not Soy” shouted by punks takes center stage at allergy pride parades.

Portlandia’s characters and all their subculture trivialities take center stage in the IFC sketch comedy show created by Saturday Night Live’s Fred Armisen and former Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein. The show recently kicked off its second season, airing Fridays at 10:30 p.m., with guest stars galore and more hipster ribbing. CULTURE spoke to Brownstein to get the scoop on the show.

When you started writing Portlandia’s second season did you feel any sophomore album anxiety?

Yeah, I think we did approach it like a second record. It’s a delicate balance of capturing that energy and a little bit of the clumsiness that is so charming about a first album or the first season of a show, but polishing it just enough without losing some of those more chaotic elements. I think this season is a classic second album because it is stronger overall but may not have that first single.

The show is good at pointing out that the subculture has taken over the mainstream culture, which has happened everywhere.

Yeah, sometimes you almost step back and feel like you’re living in the inverse of what was normal. When I moved back to Portland, about every mom and dad shopping for groceries was tattooed and I was, like, I guess this is just what it’s like now. And at the grocery store by my house the main display is the stuff that is meat-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, and if you just want something with sugar you have to go over to some little side shelf.

People’s special needs are becoming more pronounced and catered to, and that is what has come to be expected in certain communities. But it’s just funny, I mean, if I want to eat a bunch of refined sugar, I have to go to a special section and, like, register my name, but if I want something with no sugar and is made with Ezekiel bread, I have like 40 options. I think all of us who are engaged in this world are just becoming aware of sometimes how silly it is.

Oregon—as well as California—is known for being medicinal marijuana states. Is that something that could ever work into a plotline on Portlandia?

What’s weird is I live in a quiet neighborhood in Portland, but it’s not too far from a pretty big thoroughfare. Two [dispensaries] have gone in. Then a cool little mid-century furniture store was replaced with a tobacco paraphernalia store.

I am not a pot smoker so I just feel very outside that culture. But you are not the first to ask if we were going to do something about pot. Me and the others on the show aren’t really pot people though, so we would have to do some research. Some people might think, that sounds fun. It’s certainly there for the picking, but I don’t know if we will go there.

www.ifc.com/portlandia

A Rose By Any Other Name…

Portland is known by many names: Beervana and Beertown, for instance, because of the abundance of microbreweries (and penchant for drinking craft suds). Because of its flower-friendly climate, the city is also known as The City of Roses. This became its official nickname in 2003.