A monthly blog about the sensory experience of New York City

Monday, July 2, 2012

SMELL: Seven random smell delights

This month, as last year, I offer seven sense delights for the seventh month. Last year, sights; this year, smells.


1. Horse manure and hay
Exiting the N/R/Q subway station at Fifth Avenue–Fifty-ninth Street, where all the carriage horses line up outside the Plaza


2 Fabric softener on a rainy day
Gusting from air vents from a laundromat, a little breath of faux-freshness as you walk down a sidewalk


3. A just-opened bag of brown sugar
The NYPL Rose Main Reading Room smells like this, inexplicably


4. Syrup and powder, menthol and talcum: classic old-fashioned pharmacy
Behrens pharmacy in Fort Greene


5. Wet dog, stagnant mop-water, mildew, and rotting flesh, for no immediately obvious reason
Outside 284 Broome Street, reportedly the smelliest spot in the city



6. Rotisserie chicken, salted hanging deli meats, bakery, cold lettuce, floor cleaner
Gristedes at Twenty-fifth Street and Eighth Avenue


7. Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge
Rosehips, saltwater, and sand, cool waftings of the marsh, and a faint tinge of burnt rubber and tar