Q: Dear Ty,
Do you remember the smell of Claremont in the early 1970's?
- Rich
Ty: Good question and an even better observation. Yep. I do. Smell is a very important sense. It seems to correlate closely with the memory center of the brain. When you smell something familiar one often remembers things.
Ahhh, Claremont. My Claremont. 91711.
I do remember Claremont and I can remember some of the smells. Claremont smells very much like the Eucalyptus hills of Berkeley (go up there and you smell Claremont). Eucalyptus, sage, rosemary, ginkgo, and jacaranda. Claremont.
To be clear, I didn't move to Claremont until 1975, technically mid-70s. I do not remember the smells of Los Angeles or West Covina so much. I had to live in Texas for nearly a year before I came to Claremont, so it was particularly refreshing to be somewhere that smelled so wonderful. It's a college town and a retirement town. So mixed with orange blossoms there were whiffs of marijuana and Vicks; pizza and rubbing alcohol. Always was there the smell of money in the ClareVille. Always. It was subtle, like lemon zest.
Oh, and I distinctly remember the smell of Coors and Bacardi light rum.
Just a guess,
-ty
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