# 1960s drugstore smell - what is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 10, 2003, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175 "2003-08-10T07:20:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![doctordoowop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecc23a/32.png) [@doctordoowop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doctordoowop)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/21 "2003-08-10T21:42:29Z")
Well,I wasn’t too far off,but it doesn’t explain the smell present today. Cokes, mixed by hand w/ club soda & syrup? Maybe in a present day “50’s diner,” but I doubt. ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/22 "2003-08-10T21:49:41Z")
Here’s another thing … if it’s really the smell of a long-gone drugstore/pharmacy practice, like mortar and pistil work, extensive tobacco inventories, and/or soda fountains, why would it be lingering 30 or 40 years later? ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/23 "2003-08-10T21:52:44Z")
Sorry for not including this in my previous post … byt what about sopers in Chicago? Certainly there’s decades-old Walgreens stores floating around. What do they smell like? How about new Osco stores? (In Kansas City, I’ve only seen _old_ Osco stores, never new.) ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2003, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/24 "2003-08-10T22:01:17Z")
There used to be a drugstore here in Wenatchee, WA called “Owl Drug”. Until just a few short years ago, it was still a traditional drug store, complete with “old fashioned soda fountain” in the back. The The big box stores started moving in - WalMart, ShopKo, Target - and pretty much all of the independent drugstores had to close up shop. The Owl Drug, rather than close, decided to transform itself into a gift shop where you could buy all sorts of souvenirs and such. They kept the soda fountain open. But, the gift shop didn’t work out, and they eventually closed the whole thing. There was so much disappointmen in town about that that they finally bought the smaller space at the other end of the same block and reopened as “The Owl Old-Fashioned Soda Fountain” No medicine, no gifts and trinkets, just good old sodas. ---
**Author:** ![PetW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d2c977/32.png) [@PetW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PetW)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/25 "2003-08-11T00:50:55Z")
Has anyone tried asking the pharmacist? ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/26 "2003-08-11T04:58:44Z")
Is Osco a compounding pharmacy? Most pharmacies receive and stock their goods in sealed packages, whence no odor will escape. A compounding pharmacy will have many containers which are opened and closed regularly, and which are not as well sealed as factory-sealed dosage forms. I’ve never heard of “Osco” before, so someone else will have to provide those facts. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/27 "2003-08-11T12:13:43Z")
My distant memories are of such local drug stores as People’s Drugs, Dart Drug & a few other stores that were essentially the same but didn’t have “drug” in their names (like G.C. Murpy Co. & Kresge five 'n Dime). They all had a faint smell of naphthalene. It was just faint enough that you could always smell _something_ but never strong enough that you said “Eww! Mothballs!” ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/28 "2003-08-11T12:15:48Z")
I just noticed the OP says 1960’s drug stores. I’m not quite old enough to remember those. I’m thinking of 1970’s drug stores in my previous post. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/29 "2003-08-11T12:21:07Z")
I lived in the US in the early 70s, and even though I was a small child at the time, I still get a Proustian recollection of that smell today. I always thought of it as a sort of esther-inspired “cinammon” smell (that didn’t really smell like cinammon). ---
**Author:** ![smam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/46a35a/32.png) [@smam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smam)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/30 "2003-08-11T15:45:49Z")
Could it be asbestos? 😉 No, but did olden days chemists not have to soak bandages in some substance or other. I was born in late 70’s so I have no idea that I am thinking of the same smell as the OP but I wonder if it is similar to the smell of fabric bandages soaked in something. We still get these today and the smell is similar to Karvol droplets which in turn smells like menthol Pepsi (I know no such product exists and let’s pray the Pepsi execs don’t read this or it may soon exist). Were there ever any records of chemists selling 1920’s style ray-guns? Because these may or may not have exuded a particular scent. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2003, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/31 "2003-08-11T17:07:22Z")
Are you saying a certain scent could be used to identify the presence of a 1920’s style ray-gun? ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/32 "2003-08-12T00:08:55Z")
I stabbed my finger yesterday with a needle. So I broke out the old tincture of iodine because it hurts like hell to put that stuff on a cut, so it must do some good eh? Anyways, thinking about this thread (because all my feeble mind does all day is think about SDMB threads), I took a whiff of the stuff. Hmm … I think were getting close here with this one. Everyone go out and sniff massive quantities of tincture of iodine and report back tomorrow 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2003, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/33 "2003-08-12T16:01:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nametag \* > \*\*I’ve never heard of “Osco” before, so someone else will have to provide those facts. \*\* Osco is a drugstore chain that’s commonly paired with Jewel grocery stores in the midwest, and both are part of the Albertson’s corporation. ---
**Author:** ![Sudu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Sudu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudu)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/34 "2023-01-13T21:08:25Z")
I have been in countless old drugstores of the 60s & 70s. Only the Rexall in Tunkhannock,Pa. had a pronounced smell which I have always remembered.It was very pleasant, a very fresh , clean & pleasant smell- not perfumey, medicinal, or artificial. It was always exactly the same-I haven’t been in the store for 60 yrs, but remember the scent perfectly. I have never smelled it anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/35 "2023-01-15T06:39:14Z")
It’s interesting that this wasn’t definitively answered (or that, at the very least, there seems to be no consensus in the thread regarding the accuracy of **Cillasi** ’s post). Although I’ve been in an old drugstore or three, I can’t say I’m familiar with that smell. Adhesive bandages have a characteristic smell. Is it anything like that? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/36 "2023-01-15T06:43:13Z")
I’m wondering if maybe the Rexall chain used a certain cleaning product that had a very distinctive scent, one that was unique to it? I’m not old enough to have worked for Rexall, although I do remember the big orange signs. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/37 "2023-01-15T15:37:49Z")
Context: Central european guy here, so no soda-fountains, etc… in the Apotheke … but I can def. relate to some disinct smell: I go out on a limb with an educated GUESS: Very aggressive surface desinfectants in those days … so basically this smell is that of (higly specialized) cleaning supplies back in the day. Supporting “evidence” Take a stroll down memory-lane… you possibly picked up a similar smell at your _family’s doctor_ (recall those?) … and one day an doctor’s assistant did a bit of cleaning up with a rag - and voilá I thought … _“Now I know where this specific “Doctor” smell is coming from”_ so that’s my take … those “medical” cleaning solutions had a very specific and strong smell - and those used today are mostly scent-less or have a generic lemon-smell we all know… ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2023, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/38 "2023-01-15T15:44:39Z")
My father’s medical office had a distinctive odor, which I believe was a combination of a truly dreadful spray disinfectant called Turgacept, and prescription drugs kept in a cabinet in a separate laboratory. Maybe “that '60s drugstore smell” was related to certain prescriptions being compounded using an old-fashioned [mortar and pestle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_and_pestle), and Osco is carrying on the tradition? 😉 \*my father had a mortar and pestle in his office, but only for ornamental display. ---
**Author:** ![BigBib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@BigBib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigBib)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2025, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/39 "2025-09-29T19:28:24Z")
My parents used to go to German Pharmists when I was a kid (1960). They only used natural plants. I asked the pharmist about the smell and he told me exactly what oil it was and let me check it out. I’v forgotten what it was, but it was a deliberate introduced. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2025, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175/40 "2025-09-30T15:13:12Z")
No, camphor smells similar to moth balls. I too remember that drug store smell and cannot ID it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1960s-drugstore-smell-what-is-it/194175.md?page=3)