The image above is not staged artwork for Stuff White People Like. It isn't one of Evan Rachel Wood's Instagram photos. It's actually a real life list of rules that's on display at the DoubleShot Coffee Co in Tulsa. The rules were apparently an inspiration for a sketch on Portlandia. They were also probably written in an oversized moleskin notebook.
From an Spitlsider interview with Portlandia star Carrie Brownstein:
Carrie, since you live in Portland year-round but have also done tons of touring with Wild Flag, have you found hidden Portlandias in other cities?
Carrie: Last year I found myself in Tulsa, Oklahoma and I had never been before. I went to a wonderful coffee shop that had a list of amazingly esoteric rules by the register that we actually ended up writing a sketch about. I will emphasize they had great coffee. Also, all over Tulsa are little pockets of collectives and boutiques and artisan bakeries. It's the same with Birmingham, Alabama — repurposing warehouse spaces into multi-use living and work spaces, you know, just revitalizing the downtown in a very considered way that caters to the creative class and the people who want to have a furniture-making studio — as this kind of return to trying to sustain a local condensed economy that values authenticity and craftsmanship. I feel like that is popping up in so many cities, especially in places like Birmingham or Tulsa where there was a time where those downtown areas were somewhat abandoned and people moved to the suburbs. And so now you have all this empty space that is able to be reimagined and reconstituted, and those areas feel really Portlandy. It's amazing to have some of the best coffee or best sandwiches I've had in the last year in those cities. So yeah — I see Portland everywhere.
Take that Chandler Bing! Someone funny and rich and famous thinks Tulsa is artsy and cool! It's too bad Carrie Brownstein didn't visit Valkyrie or Arnie's or Soundpony while she was in Tulsa too--there's got to be at least another few episodes worth of comedy lurking in those places. To think, the kids in my pointless upper division elective classes actually pointed and condescendingly laughed at me when I told them Tulsa was kind of indie and creative. Suck it haters, my gentrified apartment, roller skates, and affinity for men who can pull off capital V-necks are finally vindicated.
We should probably note that the Spitslider interview was first dug up by our friends at This Land. Considering This Land is the type of alternative newspaper that could also inspire a sketch on Portlandia, it's only slightly ironic.
Anyway, for those of you who aren't confined by the prying eyes of your cube mates, check out the Portlandia coffee manifesto skit after the jump. I'd give it a solid four "ha" rating.
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Follow Chelsea on Twitter at @xCawoodstock
