August 9, 2006

MASH Sense Memory: Childhood Smells

If you grew up in Southern California and spent any amount of time at Disneyland, you may remember that musty, wonderful smell of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

You’re on the boat, gliding through the cricket-filled swamplands where the old guy with a corn-cob pipe sits in his rocking chair, and you descend into the pirate caves. The air fills with a dank, slightly moldy (in a good way) aroma and you know the fun is about to begin. (And by fun, I mean the prison caves where detainees try to trick the dog into giving them the key, of course.)

Anyway, sometimes, when I turn on the air conditioning in my car, it smells like that for a couple of seconds. I love it. It’s a shining example of the good kind of mash that reminds you of the radness of being a kid and having the best time.

Now if only I could transmit smells via the internet to share the mustiness with you…

(Thanks to Staup-Money for jolting my memory!)

2 comments:

laurin said...

speaking of good childhood smells. now you can spritz the magical scent of play-doh all over your body. the fun nostalgia never end!

"Demeter Fragrance came out with - I kid you not - a Play-Doh perfume!

Got a hot play date? Spritz on ‘eua de Play-Doh’, a new creation from Hasbro and Demeter Fragrance Library, the perfume purveyors behind such singular scents as Dirt, Tomato, and Thunderstorm.

The limited-edition ode to the distinctively odiferous modeling compound - its a smell for ‘highly creative people’, says Hasbro’s publicity pitch - costs $19 (for one ounce)"

Anonymous said...

I have a southern california specific MASH smell:

The first rain of the season and you can smell the musty asphalt and dirt rise from the ground. I sorta like that.