Ooooo That Smell!

By on November 9, 2007 11:00 am in News

We’ve talked about it here on BHB… that stinky smell in parts of the Heights.  BHB Commenter “No One of Consequence” was first to inform us of the stinky ginko biloba trees. This week, Brooklyn Paper’s Heights Lowdown column dives deeper into the matter:

Brooklyn Paper: Ginko…: You can describe it as the smell of an overused litter box, a pile of rotting cheese or any Upper East Side sidewalk on a Friday night at 2 am. But regardless of how you sniff it, our neighborhood, notably on Hicks Street between Montague and Pierrepont streets, stinks thanks to the gingko.

But like a well-aged French Camembert, the stench doesn’t tell the whole story.

Yes, the massive gingko biloba trees are the root cause of the smell.

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  • Evan

    I’d much rather be mugged then stopped by kids from Brownsville asking to support their basketball team which we all know is fictional. Just because someone has a big box of M&M’s doesn’t mean they’re from a legitimate charity. It does mean however, that they are officially annoying.

  • Evan

    whoops, that above comment was meant for a different blog entry. It was meant for the one on the recent mugging. Ma B.

  • MadeInBrooklyn

    you’d rather be mugged? really?!? hmmm.

  • .

    (sniff. . .sniff. . .) Ooh what dat?!?

  • Publius

    Ahhhh, it wouldn’t be fall without the smell of the Ginko. (not to be confused with the Geico Gecko)

    In the past I’ve described its odor as a mixture of stepped in dog doo on the shoe combined with vomit. Not something you want to have on your shoe sole during a long car ride.

    At my alma mater, we had a big Ginko tree that my former roommate dubbed the “Sh*tberry Tree”

    Watch where you walk! It’s nasty to bring that into the house.

  • Jo Ann

    Mostly useless information – there are female and male Gingko’s and you’re supposed to make sure to buy/plant the male version which does not produce the stinky fruits.

  • Lulu

    Jo Ann — Ask any botanist or landscape architect and they’ll tell you that often times the sex can’t be determined until the tree is already planted and maturing. When Gingko trees are young, they all appear the same. If they weren’t, there wouldn’t even be an issue. It’s not like the city planted female Gingkos because they didn’t “make sure” to buy males.