Not one but TWO total changes of directors. The first was because the old (entirely white) board was exhausted and needed to leave. The second was for the sake of diversity. My guess is that anyone who knew anything about the show or how it worked was gone by last summer when they came to film.

They have exactly the same motivations. Fred and Carrie made a series of completely indie segments under the name "Thunderant Productions" Here's a clip of the original feminist bookstore skit, well before they were Portlandia: https://youtu.be/FH9jixaDouM So two writers, budget of zero, and characters they created…

They're literally the only non-profit feminist bookstore in the country, so I'd say yes.

Me too. I think it's my favorite season so far.

I'm sorry, but our children can't be exposed to that sort of music. They need to be challenged.

The homeless people in Portland are mostly white for realz.

That character is a Portland native, too. Season 6 just hit Netflix, and it's clear that they made an effort to include more PoC.

They're just saying that the publicity from the show hasn't translated into sales. Fair enough.

There is so much truth in that. If I had a nickel for every California transplant who moved here in the 90s and now bitches about how much Portland has changed with all the newcomers…

I blame Airbnb more for the rapid rent increases and housing shortages than some TV show. People already wanted to move to Portland. It already had a reputation as a hip, weird city that was still affordable if you could stand the rain. Portlandia didn't do that. There was pent up demand after the housing recession…

The use of Papyrus was my only objection to Firefly.

The next door business is a dive bar, so I bet they don't care.

As the series progressed and they gave them backstory, they ended up being more sympathetic. Season 6 (the infamous season in question) continued the trend.

Portland has Powell's. It's so big, they give you a map to navigate the store. You can find anything there.

Portland is able to support some really weird, really niche stores. But IOW hasn't made much money from book sales for several years now. PSU used to force their women's studies students to buy their books there, but they can't legally do that now. They reorganized a couple of years ago into an events space instead of…

Oh, good lord. I'm watching season 6 on Netflix, and now I'm just embarrassed for IOW for that rant.

I bike or MAX. If I wanted to drive a lot, I'd live somewhere else.

Exactly. They'd also asked for previous window decorations to be removed. It's perfectly fair not to do so, but they weren't asking in order to erase blackness from Portland. They were asking because the Toni and Candace characters are "white feminists."

They're all volunteer, and the previous board was burnt out. The new staff, none of whom were paid, didn't like the arrangement. They'd already let IFC know. There was no controversy there - I doubt they had a contract forcing them to do anything.

There are still a couple of good Ethiopian restaurants there, but there are now wine bars within walking distance. It's not as bad as N Williams, but it's certainly gentrified a lot.