Comments on: Scent of the City

By: santimo

santimo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:15:38 +0000

last night i was coming back from university to my house, and smell somethinf funny that made me think about this post.
The park that I have to go through works as a red light district for transvestites, and it smells like a cliche: tobacco and cheap perfum.

By: Fitz

Fitz — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 19:47:34 +0000

In Seattle it really depends on where you are and how much the wind changes.

Downtown can smell like cold, marine air blowing in off the Sound, or like sewage if the wind is down and you’re passing over the steaming manhole covers (especially in Pioneer Square).

Elsewhere near the water it often smells of fish-farts (sometimes faint, sometimes strong enough to make you queasy). On the hilltops it usually smells of brisk wind (seasonal varieties).

Of course riding near breweries or chocolate factories provides us with lovely olfactory distractions.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 20:31:39 +0000

In San Francisco? Feces. Homeless people crap, open sewer grate crap, dog crap, the list goes on and on. The whole City reeks of feces. I try very hard not to ride into the City.

In Oakland? Food. Everywhere smells like food. Sometimes that food even smells good (like Chinatown). Much better than feces.

Berkeley? Depends on the block I’m on. Everywhere smells totally and completely different in Berkeley. That’s why I ride there a lot.

By: Elisa M

Elisa M — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 14:18:45 +0000

BBQ joints smoking pork to get ready for the lunch rush, exhaust and on Wednesday I smell garbage set out the night before and left to cook all night in the Alabama summer heat. Wednesday mornings are my least favorite time to ride in the summer…stinky! In the winter I smell fireplaces and in the fall it is all home BBQ’s.

By: Ryan B

Ryan B — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:56:19 +0000

growing up in Norwich england riding past the cadbury factory you could tell which type of chocolate was being made especially the white milky bar,that was the primo part,then cutting through the bus depot was the total other end of the smell spectrum with diesel smoke and fumes killing tastebuds and melting nazel hair,in winter the best smell is the crisp icey air,summer would be cut lawns and scent from flowers.

By: andy_g

andy_g — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:49:52 +0000

Working in Alameda, across a slim stretch of water from Oakland, CA I would regularly ride through the foul, foul tiled exhaust pipe that is the Webster Tube (tunnel). Not so nice, and brushing your arm or sleeve against the wall of the tube would reward you with a sooty badge of honor. Emerging into Oakland’s Chinatown would pretty much erase that memory – overpowering the normal Chinatown smells was a fortune cookie factory that would always surprise me with it sticky sweetness. So nice.

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:55:31 +0000

I get to commute right along Boston Harbor for awhile and I love taking in the smells of the sea and salt.

By: devin

devin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:44:45 +0000

stale beer, urine, and natural gas when you’re climbing up fifth avenue

By: Zach

Zach — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:42:15 +0000

I smell the chocolate factory in Chicago too. I thought I was having smell hallucinations the first time I road past there. Smells like fresh brownies.

By: erok

erok — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:21:00 +0000

the spring is when it’s most striking after a winter of only smelling my smelly balaclava. plants are a bloomin and people start driving with their windows down. my spring rides usually go back and forth between the sweet smells of honeysuckle and weed.

by summer you can smell the fermenting mulberries that dropped to the ground, giving you plenty of warning to stop and get a snack fresh from the tree.