# Cities That Stink (literally) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 1, 2009, 9:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337 "2009-06-01T09:01:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/21 "2009-06-01T14:56:12Z")
Many of the hot spots in Yellowstone smell like rotten eggs, due to sulfur. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/22 "2009-06-01T14:56:48Z")
I haven’t been there in a while, but 10 years ago driving up through Delaware, the whole southern portion of the state stank like a chemical plant. I was told by a local that Dow Chemical basically owned the place. I suppose they have several plants there? ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/23 "2009-06-01T14:57:20Z")
The entire city of Houston doesn’t stink - just the south side by Pasadena. Or at least on the west side of town I don’t notice it. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/24 "2009-06-01T15:01:02Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > Milwaukee’s Menomonee river valley used to get pretty smelly, thanks to both the tanneries and the Red Star yeast factory. This. If you weren’t smelling Miller’s new batch, then you got a nice face-full of industrial valley when the wind hit you just right. Me, I preferred the Miller. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/25 "2009-06-01T15:05:19Z")
When I was visiting the French Quarter of New Orleans years ago, there was a pervasive stench of rotting garbage and stale urine. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/26 "2009-06-01T15:05:27Z")
There’s a town called Johnsonburg, PA, between Bradford and DuBois, which I’ve had the misfortune of traveling through many times on my way to see family. It’s got a massive paper mill plunked right down in the middle of the town. It’s also in a valley, and without a breeze the smell just sits there. On a good day, it smells bad. On a BAD day, it smells like a hundred people ate nothing but cabbage for three days, then farted in your car. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/27 "2009-06-01T15:07:40Z")
Bangkok is smelly, very much so. I blame the shallow sewers, the large open sewers flowing throughout the city (they call them canals, go figure) and the high curry content diet of the general population. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/28 "2009-06-01T15:09:52Z")
Cleveland stinks when you’re driving up through the south end, where they still apparently make some steel or something. I don’t mind the stink - it means someone is working somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/29 "2009-06-01T15:42:43Z")
When I lived in Granada, Spain, there was a constant smell of raw sewage in the center of the city due to construction damaging the sewer lines. Granada also has the Alhambra brewery which spreads the smell of yeast for blocks around. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/30 "2009-06-01T15:51:34Z")
I forgot Kennett Square, Pennsylvania – Mushroom Capital of the World. Drive through there sometime and smell the stuff they grow the mushrooms _in_. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/31 "2009-06-01T15:57:30Z")
New Orleans has the distinctive French Quarter in the Morning smell. The city also has a lesser but distinctive smell that is evident as soon as you land in the airport, far away from the quarter. More of a general humidity smell without the notes of alcohol-tinged decay. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/32 "2009-06-01T15:58:36Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Chicago stinks…of chocolate. God, the horror, when the wind blows in just the right way and the entire downtown smells like baking brownies. You have no idea how awful this is. > > (The first time I smelled it, I thought I was losing my mind. Turns out there’s a chocolate factory really close to downtown. Some jerkfaces decide the smell was an EPA violation a couple years ago and there was a tussle to get the factory shut down or something. I’m not sure what happened with that.) That’s [Blommer Chocolate](http://www.blommer.com/) and it’s still pumpking out the “pollution.” I smelled it Friday morning, in fact. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/33 "2009-06-01T16:08:56Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Gary, Indiana. Yeah, I know it’s already been mentioned, but it just smells THAT BAD. > > Chicago stinks…of chocolate. God, the horror, when the wind blows in just the right way and the entire downtown smells like baking brownies. You have no idea how awful this is. > > (The first time I smelled it, I thought I was losing my mind. Turns out there’s a chocolate factory really close to downtown. Some jerkfaces decide the smell was an EPA violation a couple years ago and there was a tussle to get the factory shut down or something. I’m not sure what happened with that.) If I remember correctly, there was a popcorn aroma issue downtown, as well. Why anyone would complain about that is beyond me, but smells is smells, I suppose. I had a friend who got a gig at Tiffany Bakery and within the first week she was OFF the SWEETS completely. It grossed her out. ---
**Author:** ![mariposalabrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@mariposalabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mariposalabrown)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/34 "2009-06-01T16:09:28Z")
Yeah, not all of Houston stinks, just the area off 225 in Pasadena, which is so freaking disgusting. Where I live in the center it smells like either rice and butter, or freshly baked bread due to the Mahatma Rice and Sunbeam factories down the street. Yum! Similar to the French Quarter smell is the smell of Old San Juan in Puerto Rico. I was there a few weeks ago, and it smells like baked piss. Why people want to piss on the streets of such a beautiful area, I will never know. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/35 "2009-06-01T16:32:03Z")
Has a giant oil refinery o the east side of town. It smells like a giant farted. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/36 "2009-06-01T16:34:00Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > If I remember correctly, there was a popcorn aroma issue downtown, as well. Why anyone would complain about that is beyond me, but smells is smells, I suppose. I had a friend who got a gig at Tiffany Bakery and within the first week she was OFF the SWEETS completely. It grossed her out. I forget the name of the place but it’s on Michigan Avenue on the opposite side to the Disney store. Before my first trip to Chicago a friend told me I _must_ try the popcorn from that shop, I did and it was fantastic. BTW I didn’t need directions, I just followed my nose ---
**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:** [June 1, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/37 "2009-06-01T16:35:24Z")
> [@Bartman](#): > > Greeley Colorado deserves a mention for the same reason. Blegh. I was just going to mention Greeley. When I lived in Fort Collins some years ago, and the wind was blowing from eastto west for a few days, the city’s newspaper published an article about the phenomenon, using the term “Greeleyesque Smell” in the headline. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/38 "2009-06-01T16:35:25Z")
Seoul is kinda stinky. Not everywhere, not all the time, and not too bad, but there was definitely this particular odor in a lot of the streets there. And this was in the middle of winter. It was a nice place, and I’d definitely go back, but it was undeniably odoriferous. Actually, Busan had a bit of that as well. Maybe the sewer system there isn’t quite up to the standards I’m used to in the states or something, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/39 "2009-06-01T16:39:19Z")
> [@chowder](#): > > I forget the name of the place but it’s on Michigan Avenue on the opposite side to the Disney store. > > Before my first trip to Chicago a friend told me I _must_ try the popcorn from that shop, I did and it was fantastic. > > BTW I didn’t need directions, I just followed my nose That’s [Garrett’s](http://www.garrettpopcorn.com/), and it truly has some amazing caramel corn. Unfortunately, the one you mention on Michigan Ave is gone, the building torn down to make way for a new luxury highrise. There are still other locations in the loop, but the Michigan Ave location was the original and it was a sad day when they shut down for good. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2009, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337/40 "2009-06-01T16:39:22Z")
Third mention of Gary, IN. I held my nose the entire time we passed through. All of the islands in northern Florida and southern Georgia smell like ass. Amelia, Cumberland, Jekyl, St. Simons… But I must say I’ve grown kind of fond of it. To me it smells like… family. I’m going to Amelia Island in a couple of weeks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-that-stink-literally/498337.md?page=3)