Portlandia Is Here

Although it will not premiere on television until January 21, the first episode of Portlandia is on line. Hulu says something about it expiring in three days, but if the video below doesn’t work, you might be able to watch it here or here.

Richard Florida claims that, by attracting the “creative class,” cities like Portland are building wealth and enhancing productivity. On the other hand, the thesis of Portlandia was best summarized by economist Randall Pozdena in 2007: “We are attracting (to Oregon) a lot of young, enthusiastic people who aren’t particularly well trained and who aren’t bringing a lot of human capital to the region.”


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Portlandia is produced by Loren Michaels of Saturday Night Live fame. Lead actor Fred Armison (who plays Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live) is from New York City, but co-star Carrie Brownstein is from the Portland and was/is in the bands Sleater-Kinnie and WIld Flag.

At least some Portlanders find Portlandia to be “depressingly real.” As Brownstein told the New York Times, “The strange thing we all noticed is no matter how far out on a limb we went, we always ran into that person [in Portland] within two days.”

The Antiplanner found one slight jarring note in the show: at one point Fred says he lives “on the North side.” No one in Portland would say that; they would say North Portland, Northeast Portland, or Northwest Portland. Otherwise, it was so familiar that Ms. Antiplanner and I began to remember just how similar we were to Portlandia‘s characters just a few years ago.

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About The Antiplanner

The Antiplanner is a forester and economist with more than fifty years of experience critiquing government land-use and transportation plans.

18 Responses to Portlandia Is Here

  1. C. P. Zilliacus says:

    The extended discussion about the chicken is hilarious.

    The Antiplanner wrote:

    The Antiplanner found one slight jarring note in the show: at one point Fred says he lives “on the North side.” No one in Portland would say that; they would say North Portland, Northeast Portland, or Northwest Portland.

    Geographic errors are common in movies and other productions. Often annoying. Especially since Carrie is (as best as I can tell) a resident of Portland.

  2. Frank says:

    “We are attracting (to Oregon) a lot of young, enthusiastic people who aren’t particularly well trained and who aren’t bringing a lot of human capital to the region.”

    There’s a myth that Portland has a high percentage of college grads, but that ain’t backed up by the stats. Other cities have higher ratios, including Seattle, which has one of the highest.

    So many myths about Portland, so little time to debunk them all.

    Thanks for posting this vid! Can’t wait to watch it!

  3. Borealis says:

    We see on this website data showing that Portland has a high level of bike commuters. My observations around Portland is that the hilly terrain and somewhat rainy weather is not very encouraging of commuter bike riding. Is the high level of bike commuting a function of the culture of Portland?

  4. Scott says:

    More reasons to never visit Oregon.
    To bad Portland ideas are like a virus, which are pushed by ICLEI.
    http://www.freedomadvocates.org/articles/illegitimate_government/iclei_primer%3a_your_town_and_freedom_threatened_20090804364/

  5. msetty says:

    Well, Scott, it looks like you need to stay in your home/bunker, too. They’re surround you on all sides, too! BOOOOOOOOO!!!

    http://www.icleiusa.org/about-iclei/members/@@memberprofile_browserview?a=0017000000PGkxd.

  6. FrancisKing says:

    “Freedom Advocates”.

    When the Athenian imposed their imperial rule on the unwilling members of the Delian League, they had slogans like “Freedom” and “Democracy” painted on their ships. It didn’t lead to much freedom or democracy, though.

    I therefore have the greatest suspicion of anyone who’s sales pitch includes “Freedom”, “Democracy” or “Patriotism”, since it usually means that it contains none of these things.

    As to what the web-site is all about. I have no idea.

  7. Scott says:

    Francis, surprising to make a judgment on one word & add other words. There is no sales pitch, which you claimed. You must not care for the Declaration of Independence? Sounds treasonous to me.

    Your example has no relevance (Athenian war). It’s also unusual for an ideology to be against big gov & to be for less freedom, as you allege. How would that play? Why are you generalizing like that? Do you see a person’s appearance like that too?

    Although, it’s true that opposite words [to meaning] are often used, such as in gov legislation & in leftist mentality (ie Democracy Now, Open Society, social justice). Democracy is a terrible system, also known as mob rule. Is it just to have a majority to take your things, or reduce your rights? Democracy also lead to the unqualified making rules. Our republic is failing due to not following the Constitution.

  8. Scott says:

    betty, not sure why you pointed out SJ in ICLEI, like the collectivism & anti-human policies are unknown. The Bay Area is the epitome of dumb-ass-growth (selfish old urbanism), & the UGB & leftism. I generally hate it here, but it’s not painful.

    Why do think that, since 2000, the whole Bay Area has negative natural population growth, but immigration pushes the overall pop growth to positive?

  9. ws says:

    Frank:“There’s a myth that Portland has a high percentage of college grads, but that ain’t backed up by the stats. Other cities have higher ratios, including Seattle, which has one of the highest.”

    ws: I don’t think it’s in the myth range, and Portland does have a higher than average college grad population. Seattle has a much higher college grad population (than Portland) based on its access to some large, major research universities in the city limits. Many grads make their homes in these types of cities. Austin is another example.

    Statistically speaking, Portland is *probably* in the top 10 of larger cities with college degreed populace:

    http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-context=adp&-qr_name=ACS_2009_5YR_G00_DP5YR2&-ds_name=ACS_2009_5YR_G00_&-tree_id=5309&-redoLog=true&-_caller=geoselect&-geo_id=16000US4159000&-format=&-_lang=en

    I’ve plugged and chugged a few large cities to at least make an honest guess. I also think there’s some statistical anomalies with these stats when you get into the medium sized cities where the university is the city.

    I would tend to agree that it might be a bit overstated if one considers Portland in the realm of Seattle, San Francisco, DC, Alexandria, etc. Portland’s not there — especially in the advanced degree arena.

  10. Scott says:

    Portland having higher % college educated, probably has a lot to do with the higher % of people w/European ancestry.

    Does their schooling have an impact on the want for behavior modification & freedom reduction (elitism)?

  11. Borealis says:

    Most of the barristas at Powell’s City of Books in Portland have a PhD in Comparative Lit. 🙂

  12. Scott says:

    There are articles & discussion on restricting urban growth, at The Economist.
    http://www.economist.com/debate/overview/192&fsrc=nwl

    Most people are unqualified for full analysis, even those with advanced degrees, since urbanization is so encompassing. Usually the experts have a lot of knowledge in either urban issues or economics. Both areas are needed, plus more: property rights, business, gov, etc.

  13. Frank says:

    Good points, ws.

    Anyone notice what kind of beer the characters in “Portlandia” were drinking from a can? It’s in my favorite IPA and Pale for camping.

    Loved the title shot with the sequoias on the left. The view from Washington Park over Goose Hollow is one of my favorites.

  14. metrosucks says:

    The whole nation is now laughing at Portland. I’m glad I don’t live there anymore!

  15. the highwayman says:

    Metrosucks, it’s fine that you don’t live in Portland, though Portland works out fine for other people.

  16. metrosucks says:

    People like you!

  17. the highwayman says:

    What ever floats your boat dude!

  18. Iced Borscht says:

    There were a couple moments in the PORTLANDIA trailer that made me chuckle (modestly), but there’s a significant problem with the show: namely, those who deserve to be satirized (e.g. Brownstein, a member of — good lord I hate soulless indie rock horsesh#t — Sleater-Kinney) shouldn’t be in charge of producing the fricking satire. Having a cameo by our glad-handing mayor-pud doesn’t help the show’s cause either.

    In fairness to Brownstein, she did impress me in that I didn’t expect her to have any sense of humor at all. She seems to have pretty decent screen presence. So, y’know, life’s little surprises and what not…

    But there’s another dynamic with PORTLANDIA that’s potentially irritating, and I see it happening already.

    Dear friends, recall that, following the success of OFFICE SPACE, middle-management stooges across the nation found it ‘charmingly self-deprecating’ and ‘hilarious’ to whimsically adopt the demeanor of the “Yeah. If you could just go ahead and make sure you do that from now on, that would be great” Idiot-Boss. As such, many of those middle-management stooges seemed empowered, and driven, to continue acting like stooges.

    Ever since PORTLANDIA has been on the radar of Portland residents, I have witnessed similar displays. My worry is that — much like those middle-management stooges — the sardonic, self-aware Portlanders who emulate PORTLANDIA will continue being dullards despite the acute self-awareness that they are dullards.

    Imagine what would happen if THE PORTLAND MERCURY and THE WILLAMETTE WEEK had sex with environmental justice aficionados in their snug-fitting cycling shorts. I simply can’t stomach it.

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