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It may almost be midnight, but some people are smelling eau de breakfast--there's a whiff of maple syrup in the air! We just received three smellings:
- "I think I've been getting that nasty maple syrup smell up here at 137th & b'way for the last couple of hours. Thought it was my neighbor spraying for bugs for a while, then I went outside to dump the garbage and still smelled it outside. I can smell it out the window now, too (I'm on the sixth floor, not far from the river). Anyone else? Is it New Jersey?" - C, Harlem, Manhattan
- "I'm smelling that maple syrup smell tonight and it's strongest I've ever noticed. It's been a while. What is that smell? It's getting pretty annoying!" - D, Edgewater, NJ
- "Yes, the maple syrup is back and way out here in College Point, this is the smell’s second day. I live on Lax Ave right on the waterfront of College Point. It’s near the water treatment plant. WHAT is this smell? I am smelling it right now and it doesn’t make me want to eat pancakes. Could it be drifting from the water, or from the Bronx?" - A, College Point, Queens
Past maple syrup incidents: October 2005, March 2006, November 2006, November 2007, plus a cameo on 30 Rock.
Update: On WNBC 4, Chuck Scarborough mentioned that their newsroom received calls about the maple syrup smells and that the NYPD also received calls about it. No locations were given. However, reader A tells us the Edgewater police heading to her house to check out the smell.
Update, January 5, 2009: It's back in 2009—more details.
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Pancakes over here in bayside too. ^wtf
It was observed in upper Manhattan about 11:15.
Is that miss Butterworth or Aunt Jemima in the photo?
It's Northrax.
im smelling it here at columbia U.
Bacon, Egg & Cheese McGriddles®
Serving Size: 5.9 oz (167 g)
Fluffy folded egg, two strips of crispy bacon, slice of American cheese on two soft, warm Griddle cakes.
The smell is coming from the Griddle cakes. Trust me.
Got a whiff earlier this evening on 14th and 7th Ave.
Let's just blame Jersey.
I live in Flushing, I smelled it all the way up the Van Wyck from JFK to Flushing. At first I thought it was me, but yeah.. the smell is out there..
In 2005, it was nothing more than a bottle with 2kgs of natural coffee extract hitting carpet.
NYC & northern NJ are home to many fragrance houses.
Half of world's perfumes & many flavors (NJ mostly) are developed locally. During an evening trip on Rt.80 via Teterboro, one can get a whiff of butterscotch, chocolate chip-mint & whatever will be sold at Macy's & Bloomies next year.
International Flavorings in Jersey. It's real bad.
Thanks everyone--I've now made a maple syrup smell Google map so we can better track the odor. Keep posting/emailing locations and I'll update it in the morning.
*looks around paranoid.
*puts on tin foil hat
the government is testing chemical agents around nyc to see how its disperse.
Im on 147th and lenox and I smell it...
Im going to have to go to ihop on 135th tomorrow...
college point, queens... 14th ave and 114th street... it doesnt make me want pancakes...does anyone know what it is?
Two days ago at 35th and 7th ave!
It wasn't pleasant, especially with this nasty heat and humidity.
faint smell at around 89th street and 2nd ave... haha... i thought it was just me
Jen, the Google map is very cool and all that, but I just can't understand why or how it is that you can't copy edit your posts:
"...the NYPD also received smells about it."
I don't even understand how you keep your job.
It smelled uber sulfur like in Red Hook last night. But then again that could just be the sewer since that stinks up this place after rain.
My bet is that its some chemical plant in Jersey, if some one smart wants the track the dates the smell shows up and the prevailing winds, you'd have it...
Fed Govt. is carrying out tests to see how chemical/biological weapons spread, but using a "harmless" yet distinctive odor to map the travel of bio-warfare in different areas of the city (what direction air travels, etc.)
That is what this all is. But why will they not just come out and say as much? The stonewalling and denying is uncalled for, and as tax-payers we deserve better.
I've got a beautiful new tin foil hat!
That smell was around 120th and St Nick's Thursday at 8pm.
Not this shit again.
I remember the last panic that was all over the national news.
The rest of the country does not care what NYC smells like, I assure you.
Well, this is Gothamist, Matty, and it's about New York, and about what WE care about in NY. We don't care what the rest of the country cares about, we New Yorkers, actually. We only care about us, which is why we live here. Otherwise we'd be writing on some other blog, like Otherist.
AnnaZed--I was overwhelmed by reports of the smell! And I keep my job because I'm the one who is creating Google Maps and writing posts about it at midnight.
I mean this making national news, not posting about it on here - which is totally relevant.
BACON BACON BACON BACON
I think it's Prince. He just finished playing basketball.
I think the smell should be correctly identified as a "corn syrup" smell rather than "maple syrup". There is a huge difference and if we are going to help people identify what we are talking about, that will help.
Jen, you don't have to justify your employment or anything else to these jerks. Just keep doing what you do.
I feel left out for never having smelled this.
Dude, I haven't noticed the maple syrup smell again lately, but a few nights ago there was a really strong sulfur smell wafting through my apartment window near 145th and Broadway. The boyfriend kept denying having anything to do with it, so we ultimately blamed it on the cats having gas. Hmmm...
I do remember first smelling the maple syrup up at Columbia Fall of '05. I nearly peed my pants when they were talking about it on 30 Rock. Northrax!
The syrup smell is definitely back. Last night it was coming into my apartment from my windows facing west overlooking the river (150th and Broadway). I noticed it starting at about 9:00, and it was very strong for a couple of hours.
I called in a complaint to 311 and got a call back this morning from someone from DEP. He told me that they were investigating it, that they got a lot of calls about it, and that it has been going on for two weeks on Thursday nights. He said we'll see what happens next Thursday.
I smelled a manure smell last night around 11pm near 8th and 25th. My friend smelled it too.
Then this morning, I smelled the same smell near the Prospect Expressway in Brooklyn.
It was very weird - and I was wearing different clothes and definitely didn't step in anything.
maybe lots of people are smoking honey flavored dutchies at the same time.
CLOVERFIELD IS A WAFFLE!!1!!1
Jen, I apologize. I don't know what's wrong with me. That post was just rude, and I wasn't even drunk.
You guys do a great job. Not that it matters what I think given that I was accurately called out for being a jerk.
Sorry
It's the "Shake Shack".
We love Jen and thanks for burning the midnight
oil.
I called 311 about the syrup smell on May 22 (a Thursday) at 8:00 pm...I live on the UES near Mt. Sinai hospital. The DEP called me back a week later, ostensibly to ask questions,but the guy was talking far more than asking about the possible reasons for the smell. The fact that this seems to regularly fall on a Thursday night is so odd...unless some factory does a regular "dump" in an incinerator, or we are guinea pigs for an air dispersion test...
The smell is frequently very strong the area stretching from Little Ferry to Ridgefield, Palisades Park etc. along NJ Route 46 and south of that along Route 1&9. It's got to be a manufacturing plant of some sort, I've heard it could be anything from food additives, as mentioned above, to aircraft de-icing fluid that smells like syrup.
It's back! I'm on 65th and west end.. What is that?? It's 11:15pm but I feel like having pancakes and bacon..
I can smell it in Sunnyside - Queens Blvd & 41st St. Bleagh.
Last night I thought I was going insane. I did not remember that there had been previous incidents of this so I thought I was me just smelling maple syrup (which is one of my leaset favorite smells!). It was super strong at about 10:30 on East 75th Street and caused a mild burning to my eyes. The burning was nothing to get concerned about, but I definitly felt it. I am so glad to hear that I was not just me.
Anyone smell anything tonight? Pretty strong smell in Astoria all of a sudden...
Smelled it on kingsbridge and sedgwick in the bronx for a couple hours,very strong. too.