Official KKNY Decree: The NYC Scent Of Summer 2011 Is...An Olfactory Kaleidoscope Featuring Garbage & Weed

I know, I know...it's late in coming this year. People have been asking, "KK, you haven't called it yet! What's the scent of NYC 2011?" Well, I must admit, it's been a difficult decision this time around. The smell of 2010 was easy, but this year's been problematic. I was going to call garbage in early July, but whenever I left my neighborhood, the smell just didn't stick as well as it usually does. Frankly, it's been an odd summer, and there has been no single scent that's taken precedence over the others.

So, I've decided to call this year an Olfactory Kaleidoscope, comprised mainly of garbage with an overlay of weed (apparently, the economic doom and gloom has lead to the formation a cloud of second-hand pot smoke that has been hovering over the city...and I'm not the only one who's noticed it). Lower Manhattan smells like urine (though the pot cloud has probably grown in strength over the past week with all of the recent market jitters), many residential neighborhoods smell like dog poo, and West Chelsea actually has occasional floral whiffs--thank you High Line!

But garbage and weed permeates everything, so...there we go!