Jogging down NE Wygant between 19th and 20th one fine, crispy morning brought me to a screeching halt as a Grape Nehi inspired aroma wafted in the air around me. I ran back later that afternoon to see if it was my imagination; the sweetish purple-ish smell was there, but I was, alas, unable find its source.
Portland’s neighborhoods not only have distinctive identities—business districts, architecture, attitude—but smells, too. Just about everyone knows the yeasty smell of white bread baking at the Franz family bakery (since 1906!) factory in the Kerns neighborhood just south of the Lloyd Center on NE 12th Avenue and Flanders. If you live near the Woodlawn neighborhood, you’ve certainly—and happily—sniffed cookies baking at the Kraft Foods Nabisco Bakery on NE Columbia. Mash Tun brew pub on NE 22nd at Alberta Street adds comforting smells (like hops turning into elixir of the gods, perhaps?) to the local Concordia neighborhood atmosphere.
The Franz Bread Bakery's famous rotating sign
Thusly motivated to continue sniffing my way around town, I thought it would be fun, too, to engage my pals in an olfactory scavenger hunt. They obliged my whim by contributing many fabulous observations made by nose. While my home girl, Miz Martinez, immediately offered that downtown ”the corner of SW 2nd and Salmon smells like desperation, fear, and guilt,” it is the bakeries, coffee roasters, and breweries that top multiple neighborhood rave aroma lists, as predicted. Stumptown on SE Division. Ken’s Artisan Bakery on NW 21st. Widmer Brothers Brewery on N Russell. Each of these businesses contribute to their neighborhood with atmosphere, sought-after product (coffee, bread, brew!), and distinctive aroma of our fave eats and drinks.
The Kraft Foods Bakery gives Woodlawn the scent of fresh-baked cookies
My yoga studio shares a building with one of Portland’s Grand Central Bakery locations. When we finish a morning session, we are often greeted in the locker room not by sweaty foot odor, thanks be, but by the delicious hearty smells of fried egg sandwiches, bacon, and bread. (Not helpful post workout, btw.) Ararat American and Russian Bakery in East Portland offers warm, homey aromas to the Lents neighborhood, too. Neighbor and home baker Cora Potter notes that the bakery's heavenly scents are of "yeast digesting sugar, caramelizing grain flour, and a slight tinge of scorching fruit." Mmmm. Her favorite part of Ararat's aromatic appeal "is that it is most present in the wee hours of the morning and it slowly blooms and bounces off the morning air. It has a sweet, warm aroma of fresh baking bread—big enough to stretch across an area of a few blocks—which makes the whole neighborhood smell like home. (The bakery also moonlights as a deli and nightclub. Go figure.)
Ararat American and Russian Bakery teases Lents with the smell of baking bread
Alice offered that “it’s so nice (and always a surprise again) when you're doing the First Thursdays gallery walk in the Pearl, you can suddenly smell the delicious croissants wafting up through the grates from the basement bakery [Nuvrei Fine Cakes and Pastries] on the corner of 10th and Flanders. Yum. Butter.” Helen Jones mentioned this same basement bakery "where you can peek through a sidewalk-level window and see the bakers at work. There is a metal grill next to the window and wafting through is the sweetest, undeniably wonderful smell of custardy-rolls and other promising treats. It's a visceral delight.” Helen lives in the Pearl and also gets hit by "a lot of smells" when she's walking though her hood—some notables coming from the Bridgeport microbrewery ("yeasty and thick”). Hilary P. was glad when “the Henry Weinhard brewery moved from the blocks near Powell’s because she can't stand that smell..."I love beer but the malt is stinky poo!” (You'd think she'd try to steer clear of Mash Tun’s corner, too, but she's often perched inside our neighborhood pub, happily imbibing.)
Peering through the grate: follow that smell to Nuvrei in the Pearl!
Jason Lee, owner of Broadway Cigar Company, enjoys a fine, aromatic smoke
Similar pungent smells bring us to the Broadway Cigar Company in Hollywood. This shop provides either offensive or delightful smells, depending on which way you lean in the cigar smoke debate. (I love it. And, ripe Frenchy cheese, for that matter.) Christian notes that when he's riding his bike on the east side of the esplanade, the wetlands near Oaks Park provide a seriously rank odor. (“What is that, sewage?" he queries.) The slough at the northeast end of town also offers some stink as funky, soupy, frying algae fumes waft about on a hot summer’s day. And NE Columbia Avenue (through Cully en route to PDX) always chokes with “burning brakes and clutch fumes” winces Mark Hatten, an auto mechanic whose nose is primed for this sort of thing. His shop is located near the Boeing hangars (where controversial plane painting happens). This area near the airport always smells of diesel fumes. Obviously. But Mark also delights in the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day when next door, the Wood Waste Management site (on NE 47th Avenue) smells of fresh forest as pines, spruces, and hemlocks are ground up for recycling. (Alberta Park at NE 22nd and Killingsworth smells of pines, too.)
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Aaaah...the smell of diesel at Boeing.
Christmas trees wait to be ground into bio-fuel at Wood Waste Management
Various historic rose gardens about town usually get cranking in June. Their rich perfumey goodness is carried through the neighborhoods by warm summer breezes. Speaking of perfume, Ms. Charpentier reminds me that I’ve just got to visit The Perfume House on SE Hawthorne (in the Richmond neighborhood), which “smells perfume-y, in a decadently-wealthy-yet-campy sort of way. Think James Bond seduction scenes. I don't mean this in a disparaging way. We're talking De Luxe (but without any trace of snobbery), and a wink of delight. You'll want to spend an afternoon there.” (Note: there's no sickly sweet cloud perched outside this fine establishment, so don't be put off by the fear of potential perfume-induced headaches. It's not likely to happen.)
The Nose Extraordinaire in residence at Perfume House is Chris Tsefalas, who is considered "one of the world's 200 'Noses'". What, pray tell, is a Nose, you ask? "The prospective candidate must be able to recant all of the elements that comprises the essential elements within a fragrance before the sprayed droplets reach the floor." A field trip is in order—perhaps Chris can help us uncover more neighborhood smells or give us a crash course in discerning every day scents.
Visit Chris Tsefalas, Portland's official Nose
Endless old houses in Irvington (with plenty of lit fireplaces this time of year) add to the “woodsy or mossy” aroma Sharon E. enjoys as she takes a late afternoon stroll. “I never smell anything bad, if that helps," she offers. "Nor do I smell chocolate chip cookies, but I'm surprisingly okay with that.”
Woodsy, mossy smelling Irvington
Pleasant or putrid, aromas trigger vivid memory. The olfactory bulb is located in the limbic system forging a close association with memory and emotion. Because we all typically came across the largest volume of new smells during childhood, a smell can conjure up a volatile emotion or sharp memory, and almost instantly at that. The smells in our neighborhoods might even prompt new memories of home or even provide us with an aromatic sense of place.
I challenge you to take a tour of your hood, your nose ready at the helm. Invite your friends, family, and neighbors to compare empirical research in a fun way. Note what you smell at different times of the day, or even during different seasons of the year. Note, too, those smells that trigger strong reactions or evoke memories. Discovering the sources of such aromas might lead you to learning something new and interesting about your surroundings and about yourself. And, then, why not tell us all about it here? We’re out sniffing, too.
Photos © 2010 Kenneth Aaron, Neighborhood Notes
Nice article Eve! It reminded me of another Portland smell: the paint fumes outside Aladdin Refinishing on Alberta Street. I know it's ironic that I prefer that over beer-brewing malt, but it gives me a creative buzz that drives me back into the studio.
Brilliant piece. A large component of a previous job was sensory evaluation and I would often find myself walking through different neighborhoods with my eyes closed, letting my nose do as much work as possible.
I'd add the strip of MLK near the convention center as a lesson in fast food and out of town guests. The reek of fryer oil and non-Portland hair and skin products creates a truly amazing cloud.
Any close-in SE neighborhood around 11pm has some skunky, herbaceous wafts from porches. When a veil comes down from a holiday night, or a wash of snow, sometimes you can even attach faces to the source as everyone feels a layer of anonymity.
"Dog shit alley" used to exist before the new Belmont Dairy condos were occupied as no one seemed to be accountable for their pooches if there was no one living in the spaces.
There's a grouping of houses on SE Ellis that have the evergreens that reek of cat piss and Sauvignon Blanc.
From my porch I can tell you that 82nd is not known as the Avenue of Roses for any olfactory trait.
Thanks for the great post.
Crossing the Broadway Bridge westbound I can often smell hops, which I assume is from the Bridgeport Brewpub(?). Don't know if I love that smell, but a smell I _do_ love is the smell of spices whenever I pass Classic Foods on NE 20th and Oregon. Biking or walking, I always seem to catch a whiff. It's a contained yet sharp scent, and very consistently there. :)
Thanks for the additions and the props, all. (Jeff - L.O.V.E. your commentary - made my day!) To add to the line-up: when my pals Matt and Stephanie were at Lewis and Clark, they'd freak when a sulfury, pungent odor would envelope campus. They liked to think it came from the River View Cemetery (the oldest not-for-profit cemetery in the Portland area!) - but it most likely was paper mill residue traveling their way.
When I first moved to PDX in the late 80's, I had a hard time figuring out why so many green beans were being cooked downtown. Being from the deep south, we cook our beans down into a flavor packed, ham hock or bacon modified mush.
Fresh veggie-files in the Pacific Northwest are horrified by this bean abuse, but I see that Lynne Rossetto Kasper (Public Radio Splendid Table host) sings the praises of this method in her wonderful "How To Eat Supper" book.
Turns out the smell of cooling brew mash is almost identical, and I love it. Not so strong since the Weinhard brewery closed, but Bridgeport and others keep the olfactory signature strong in the Pearl.
I spend the winter in SW Florida now, but look forward to my summer PDX pilgrimage and that wonderful, earthy promise on the breeze of a great beer waiting.
I'm looking forward to the first whiff of Daphne to signal the onset of spring. A heavenly, lemony, curative aroma. Delightfully invigorating.
My favorite neighborhood smell? The intoxicating aroma of my neighbor Gary's cigars. There's just something about it that makes me feel right at home.
Kudos to Eve. Best article ever!