The Nose Test for Cities
What did New York City smell like back in 1923? As this New York Times Magazine article described:
"The New York odor... is at its indefinable utmost when there is dampness. Then it defies an army of cigarette smokers, and not even the petrol gas, lying stagnant in narrow streets, can smother it. There is age in it, but few flowers: the dust of old houses, old wood, tiny crumblings of brick and brownstone. There is the memory of mud in it, no matter how clean the streets be swept. Ships and horses, the ailanthus [a type of tree]. Metal too, and perhaps echoes from the great districts given over to trades: coffee, wool, lumber — essences drawn out by heat and compactness, yet in themselves too faint to show a trace in an analysis. Doubtless there is rubber too, from tires, but the typical New York odor of today is much what it was twenty-five years ago, though there are fewer trees. Chewing gum, excavations, garbage, and spring lilacs on the sidewalks: acres of trees and alleys like Turkish baths — all go into it."
What does New York City smell like in 2023? From Times Square to the U.S. Open tennis tournament, the answer is mostly: weed.
The Nose Test for Cities
Published: Sunday, December 23, 1923