284 Broome Street – New York, New York - Atlas Obscura

284 Broome Street

The competition: breathe deeply as long as you can. 

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The block of Broome Street between Allen and Eldridge is the smelliest block in New York City. The New York Times Magazine tested the area with a number of olfactory experts, who all agreed it is the worst smell known to the City.

If you happen to think you can handle anything, or that you’ve smelled worse, hop a subway down to the Lower East Side and take a few whiffs. Better yet, challenge a friend and make the loser buy lunch at Shopsin’s, only a few blocks away.

A local magazine conducted an investigation on the smell recently, and figured out that the smell was coming from  stacked boxes of raw poultry that have been marinating in the sun. While you would think that the place would be slapped with a fine or a warning from the health inspectors, but the smell is technically legal, so the legendary scent of Broome street lives on, unopposed.

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