March 14, 2006
Maple Syrup Monday Night!
It was such a nice night that Gothamist decided to open our windows and air out our Upper West Side office/domicile as we tried to spring clean (as in, spring clean for 2005 - we're very, very behind). And then, during a gust of wind, it started to smell...weird. Like yucky, icky, gross...like really burnt maple syrup. Yes, the maple syrup is back, even though it is Monday. How else can you explain the email we got from a reader at West 20th and 9th Avenue who noticed the maple syrup had also seeped in through her open windows and who asked us if we wanted some Eggos? This is the second time that maple syrup seems to have visited us on a non-Thursday night, which makes us wonder...are we going totally crazy? (Maybe, as Joe tells us the winds are from the northeast and very light.)
Did you smell anything? Maple syrup struck in last October last year, and then on a Thursday in December and a Thursday this past January. And out of all NYC buildings, the Guggenheim looks most like a stack of pancakes. So when Paul Bunyan gets hungry, we know where he's headed.
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the smell is SHIT! seriously it's the Dept of sanitation's time of cleaning out septic tanks. Now if you are close to it it smells like total ass droppings but if you are like far away like 5-10 blocks away the diluted smell is similar to maple syrup.
Hey from Astoria. I think JC is correct-a-mundo. It's humid out, and I am getting that Randall's Island down wind. Time to give the honey pot a good scraping out.
Ugh, I'm going to need to fumigate my apartment.
I didn't smell it, maybe I'm too far uptown (157th & bway). All I smell is the Caporal Fried Chicken down the block. At least, I hope that's what it is....
It's about time we knew what the FUCK THIS SMELL IS THAT HAS BEEN TORMENTING US FOR THE LAST 4 MONTHS IS.
smelled it on the turnpike by secacus, jerseys got mad eggos, yo.
Living in Prospect Heights, I’ve missed every maple syrup incident that has occurred in the city the past couple of months and have come to think of the whole thing as an urban myth. But tonight I stepped outside of Swifts on 4th and Bowery for a cig between pints and immediately thought “Aunt Jemima.” The air reeked of warm, rich, sweet syrup that could only be associated with pancakes. At first I thought I was crazy but after consulting various construction workers and homeless folks (very reliable sources) in the vicinity to check my sanity it appears the syrup smell is indeed back.
I don't know about the rest of you but they are cleaning out all the septic bins near the subways at Canal street right now! the streets smell like Paris Hilton's ass after she was dp'd. OMIGOD!!!!! It's kinda funny that all these NYU students are running the hell out! PEOPLE are running like a bat out of hell once they hit Canal street. I peeled an orange and used the skin as a citric mask until I got far away from it. I tested the maple syrup theory and biked like 10 blocks away and it does smell a lot different and more fruity. Maybe the most acrid smells of defecation aren't strong enought to carry and the smell you get is just filtered poop smell. Kinda like how you can get sewage but the evaporated water will get to you leaving the salt and crap behind. or maybe it's a smell that the department of transportation releases that coincides with the septic smell to mask it?
this totally comfirms it. If the guy at 4th and bowery smells maple syrup and the dude at canal street says that they are cleaning the septic tanks and it smells godawful and that's like ten blocks away then the wonderful smell of maple syrup is the foul stench of days and days and days of accummulated man dung! UGH! BLECH! someone get the dept of sanitations cleaning schedule and coincide them with the other incidents of "maple" syrup. Maybe this mystery can finally be solved.
Smelled it on 2nd Avenue from 42nd to 30th or so this evening, but only when the wind was blowing from uptown to downtown.
I was walking my dog down on the water in Long Island City last night and the smell was powerful, but in a good, funny way. This huge intimidating mess of a city, and yet somehow it smells like a Denny's Grand Slam platter ...
Last Friday evening, I smelled the maple syrup odor coming in through the open windows of my apt (about 10 blocks south of the Columbia campus). Missed it last night though.
Definitely smelled it last night getting off the train at West 4th St. around 10pm. Was in the Village a while after that and didn't smell it again, though.
In spite of the fact that we were sitting on the toilet, we didn't smell nothing.
although this may have little credibility, we were playing trivial pursuit last night and came across a question that told us urine and maple syrup share an odorific property.
Smelled it on Smith St. in Boerum Hill around 10pm last night.
Four of us smelled it while we were sitting in an apartment on 13th and 1st last night around 9:30pm. It wafted in through the windows and prompted one of us to drink out of a bottle of fake syrup. Gross.
I smelled it for the first time last night- seeping through my windows too on 17th and 8th... In my sleepiness, I thought it was the smell of my leftover Chinese food haunting me!
i smelled it friday night when i left my office on the columbia campus. smk, your comment piqued my interest, so i did a little research.
even if the smell is somehow linked to poo, it's much better than the stench on my a train this morning.
I have a coworker who is always with the conspiracy theories... he says that the maple syrup smell is a test to see how far noxious/poisonous gasses can travel. He says that it is a test to see how protected we may or may not be in case of terrorist action. Yikes!
The Aladdin Bread factory is on 25th St. in Brooklyn and it frequently smells like maple syrup and cinnamon from whatever they are baking. Maybe it comes from there.
I smelled it too on the corner of 11th street and Avenue B last night. It settled in right after this huge gust of wind from the east. It was totally awesome.
I've heard the same thing, Laura, from more than a couple people. It seems like this is a fairly new occurance, too. I don't remember the maple syrup smell before 2005 and I've lived here for over 10 years now.
I smell the Maple Syrup. Its all over Columbia U.'s campus. (115th St.)
estranged, you're not alone -- the syrup smell is back in full force today at columbia. however, having read all these comments, i must say it longer smells as sweet...
smeeled it last night in fort greene while walking the dog around 10 pm. it is originating in manhattan or in jersey, since most of manhattan gets hit full force and only a little bit of brooklyn.
awesome graphic, jen! i love both architecture AND maple syrup.
leave it to the city government to make poop smell like syrup. Another *exclusive* uncovered by gothamist.
I actually smelled it from the Marcy Avenue stop in Williamsburg. I thought about the million times I've read these articles on this site and thought to myself... "is this the infamous syrup smell?" I guess I was right.
amazing. i emerged from a bar on eldridge monday night and immediately said, "why does it smell so good out here?" at first my friend was like "cigarettes. have one," but then i realized: syrup!! so great. my first time smelling it! huzzah!
Maple syrup, septic smell, doesn't sound like they go together. Maybe a rural address is the key. The cost to commute may not be a bad way to go. Fresh air, breathing it is a worth a lot, maybe a day's pay.
To change,to be free of the things that disgust one, might be just miles away.
One, two, three, I just gotta be free!