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The feminist bookstore In Other Words is featured prominently in "Portlandia."

(Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian)

Fame works in mysterious ways. For some, it manifests as glittering prizes, scandalous headlines or fabulous wealth.

For others, it takes the form of customers walking in and asking, "Can I use your bathroom?"

"We get a lot of jokes about that," says Katie Carter, co-director of

, the Northeast Portland feminist bookstore and community center enjoying an unexpected moment in the spotlight thanks to being featured in

the IFC series that spoofs the Rose City. In one of the show's running gags, a pair of humorless workers at a feminist bookstore (played by Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein) give customers the grouchiest, least-helpful, most guilt-inducing service imaginable.

The "Portlandia" bookstore is called Women and Women First, but the sketches were filmed at In Other Words. In the first episode, a customer played by Steve Buscemi tries to use the bathroom, only to be confronted by Armisen and Brownstein, who insist the facilities are for customers only.

At In Other Words, they do have a sense of humor, as the sign on their bathroom door -- "As seen on 'Portlandia'" -- indicates.

The first season of "Portlandia," which ended late last month, won generally positive reviews from critics around the country. The reaction in Portland, as might be expected, was more complicated. Some locals thought the satire was dead-on, others thought it should have gone even further in making fun of the city.

But even if reaction to the show was mixed, it had an impact, creating instant catchphrases inspired by bits like the "Dream of the '90s" music video extolling Portland's embrace of tattoos, hot girls in glasses and slacking hipsters; and the "Put a bird on it" arty-crafty couple partial to avian motifs.

Local actors and locations featured on the show have noted a "Portlandia" effect, too. Not a blockbuster effect, but one more befitting the show's status as a six-episode series on a niche cable channel. In Other Words' Carter, for example, says that the show's feminist-bookstore skit has been a good thing for their operation, in terms of raising awareness.

"It's spurred a lot of discussion," says Carter, 27. "We're a small organization, and 'Portlandia' has gotten a lot of national exposure. It was a surprise -- people outside of here care about 'Portlandia'? And feminism is not a concept that is seen much in mainstream media."

While the "Women and Women First" characters played by Armisen and Brownstein fit a familiar stereotype -- inflexible idealogues perpetually peeved at the patriarchy -- Carter thinks the segments make fun of cliches, not perpetuate them. "I think we were expecting some negative feedback" about the show's portrayal of a feminist bookstore, "but there have only been a few comments like, 'Why would you let them make fun of feminism?' But Carrie Brownstein's a feminist, and it's meant to be tongue-in-cheek."

Carter hopes that people realize that old feminist stereotypes are increasingly out-of-date. "We're very inclusive," she says. In that spirit, there's a motto painted on a wall that reads, "Feminism is for Everybody." And, unlike Armisen and Brownstein's characters, who spend most of their time refusing to give customers what they want, Carter says, "We do like to sell things."

While Carter has noticed customers having fun with the "Portlandia" connection, it's not the kind of exposure that has led to much change in business.

The

, however, has seen an uptick in diners since being featured in the first episode. In the sketch, Armisen and Brownstein play a pair of demanding locavores who come to the Gilt Club for dinner. But before ordering chicken, they need to know whether their prospective meal -- a chicken named Colin -- led a happy, free-range life.

Gilt Club owner and manager Jamie Dunn says that scene "has brought an awful lot of people through the door, asking us about chicken. I'll be honest with you, I was very surprised by how many people did see it, or comment on it."

The Gilt Club, located in Old Town, wasn't an obvious choice for the scene. As Dunn tells it, director Jonathan Krisel wanted a list of diners to look at as possible locations for the sketch. But the location scout threw the Gilt Club into the mix, even though it's not a diner. And "the director chose us," Dunn says.

While Dunn says the boost in business may also have to do with a recent Groupon offer, he thinks the "Portlandia" effect has been significant. "Our last three months have probably been our busiest in the last three years. For every one person who walks through the door and says something about it, my guess is there would be 10 other people who are there because of it but don't say anything. We get people who come in and ask us, 'Is Colin is on the menu tonight?' at least a half-dozen times a week. And we get people who come in and ask, 'Is this where 'Portlandia' was filmed? And their other question is, 'Does that waitress really work here?'"

The answer: No, she doesn't. Dana Millican, the actress who played the patient, helpful waitress in the chicken scene, has a day job, but it isn't at Gilt Club.

The 36-year-old Portlander is an operations manager in the research department of a financial consulting firm. She had auditioned for "Portlandia" casting director Simon Max Hill before, and he got in touch with her when he was working on "Portlandia."

"We did a heavily improvised audition," she Millican. "I can't remember what exactly, but I believe we worked with the chicken scene. My boyfriend is actually a chef, so it wasn't too far from what we talk about in our day-to-day lives."

She got the gig, and on set at the Gilt Club, Millican was "furiously trying to memorize my lines for the scene. Fred walked by me and he said, 'No, no, you don't need to worry about that.'" Armisen and Brownstein were going to ask her questions, and she should respond. "I thought, 'Well, I'll keep an open mind, whatever questions they fire at me, I'll try to come back with whatever comes across my mind.'"

Before they started the scene, Millican recalls, she and director Krisel were talking about the chicken. "I can't remember who said, 'Let's give him a name,' but I named a couple of guys I work with as suggestions. I just went down the row of cubicles, and one of the names I said was Colin, because I work with a financial analyst named Colin." Krisel liked it, and a chicken was named.

"It was a lot of fun to shoot," says Millican. "And I have a lot of foodie friends who've told me, 'That was so spot-on,' or, 'I've waited tables for years, and I've seen people just like that.'"

Portland actress Ellen Bloodworth also gave voice to lots of locals' feelings in her own "Portlandia" scene. Another first-episode sketch featured Armisen as a member of an adult hide-and-seek league playing in a Portland Community College library. Bloodworth's character sits down at a table with a book, only to discover Armisen's character hiding under the table. He asks her not to give him away; she looks at this grown man playing a kids' game and asks him, in a tone of grandmotherly common sense, "Why don't you just get a job and go to work like a normal person?"

In her brief turn, Bloodworth embodied the mixture of amusement and perplexity with which many longtime residents regard the influx of young, alternative-culture-loving, creative-outlet-pursuing people who have moved to Portland in recent years.

"I just did it," says Bloodworth. "It's just improv." She says she wasn't playing any particular character.

The retired Montessori teacher says that, in her younger days, "I lived the hippie life. I was part of a food collective." Even now, she says, "I'm probably the weirdest of all my friends. I'm just here to embarrass my children."

Bloodworth, who prefers not to give her age, says she has been recognized a few times as the "library lady" from "Portlandia." But she's not letting it go to her head.

"I was, God help me, in Walmart on 82nd," she says. "And someone said, 'Weren't you in 'Portlandia'?'" And I said, "Oh yes, glad you enjoyed it."

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