Scents and the City

Jason Logan, illustrator and author of “If We Ever Break Up, This Is My Book” takes us on a scented utinerary through the heated summer neightbourhoods of New York City in The New York Times (this has nothing to do with a niche brand marketing their products via this exact concept, by the way).

Much like our Scented Travel Memoirs here on Perfume Shrine, it seems like specific places hold captive certain distinctive smells which unlock the floodgates of memory and forever paint the picture of that place upon meeting that scent again. From the "territorial soapy cologne" of Harlem (along with its "crazy perfume" which has me intrigued as to what it might be or -to further the thought- what is considered "crazy" in relation to perfume), to the "musky-and-sweet" aroma that might or might not be deodorant at Fort George, The Cloisters, and on to the exhaust, the foods and the garbage that fringe any urban landscape, this is a must read to get a better appreciation of the big Apple. Read it here and be sure to move your cursor on the map (a little nose follows your moves).

Pic from Alexander Mackendrick’s drama Sweet Smell of Success, with Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis, set in New York City and based on the same-titled novel via altfg.com