Arab Nights (imported) wrote: Tue Mar 09, 2010 4:19 pm
I vote Chimbote, Peru. If the wind is one direction, the fishery packinng plants smell like, well, fish packing plants. If the wind is the other direction, the steel plant spews out pollution like you would not believe.
I have lived in Yuma and visited Chimbote. Personally, I'll take Yuma any day.
My Father's family grew up near the huge Homestead and Hazelwood steel plants and I can definitely imagine the smell. I know it well from having passed by those plants on family visits. Bad stuff. Bad stuff.
Smells aren't always bad. Sometimes they evoke happy memories, even if they aren't pleasurable in themselves. Here are some smells I always enjoy -
Department stores. I don't know what it comes from, but there's a distinctive odor to department stores, no matter what the store or where it is. Some mixture of handbags, perfume, plastic, etc. I always light up when I smell this.
New York City subway stations. Some mix of electrified iron, lubricant oil, tunnel rot, leakage, etc. For a New Yorker, this is the smell of home.
One of the happiest moments of my life was when I returned from two years in pure, pristine, natural Vermont, and stepped out of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. The air was choking with exhaust and pollution; the street teemed with festering garbage; there were beggars everywhere; the cars stuck in a traffic jam were all blaring their horns; the old buildings looked ready for condemnation. It was sublime. I stood there for about 15 minutes, moved almost to tears of joy. For those who like people more than chipmunks, this was heaven. The stink was part of it.
Cooking smells in apartment halls. Living in apartments most of my life, I'm used to being surprised by the smells coming from unknown foods in unseen kitchens. Some of these are so good! I enjoy stepping in my hall and smelling someone's savory dinner. I always try to guess what's cooking.
The biting shoe store odor of tanned leather and dye.
Wood chips in gardens. The odor of rotting wood chips spread over soil in gardens and parks is a harbinger of spring and summer glories. I always smell this with a thrill of anticipation.
That's a few of my favorite stinks. How about you?
Used to live downwind from a whiskey aging facility. They aged the stuff for a minimum of 7 years and the buildings were about 6 stories high. In the summer they would open all of the windows.
Years ago, I used to pass through Hoboken, NJ, on my way to New York City. There was a huge Maxwell House Coffee plant (since closed). You could smell the coffee for blocks. Better than drinking the stuff. You could just stand and inhale.
I worked a spell where I had to drive from Manhattan to Newark to make money and the Pulaski Skyway (a raised highway) went over the Passaic river. Well, more like the Passaic swamps and sewer system in the hot summers. You could smell rotting New Jersey for miles and believe me, it wasn't pleasant.
I throughly enjoyed the smells of the brewery (now closed) about a quarter mile downwind of my house and since working on boats the smell of diesel exhaust makes me feel like I am home. --FLO--
Those swamps under the Pulaski Skyway are known as the Wetlands, and they're now protected by law. They're one of the great natural habitats in the US (true!), along with the Florida Everglades. Home to hundreds of species of plants and animals, even though they're inhospitable to human beings. Taking the train into NYC, you can look out the window and see Snowy Egrets nesting. Efforts to save the Wetlands have reduced the once high pollution. Back when the Skyway was built, the Wetlands were seen as an obstacle to development, and there were plans to drain them. Now, they're seen as a precious resource.
bobover3 (imported) wrote: Sun Mar 14, 2010 12:40 am
Wow! Sounds intoxicating.
Years ago, I used to pass through Hoboken, NJ, on my way to New York City. There was a huge Maxwell House Coffee plant (since closed). You could smell the coffee for blocks. Better than drinking the stuff. You could just stand and inhale.
Bob3,
The best memories like those from childhood stay with you all of your life. To this day I still love to smell corks and you love to give us your version of waking up and smelling the coffee.
Even though we disagree on many issues, your voice and that of ramses must be heard to give us perspective.
