Outdated - the smell is mostly gone now. Based on timing of the closing of the pulp mill, it seems to have been the main cause.
this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
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This is the correct answer, it was the pulp mill.
A friend of mine made up a rap song a long time ago about a superhero who got his powers from toxic waste. I remember one line, "His stupefying aroma, is like he's from Tacoma."
There was a paper towel/toilet paper factory in my college town and yeah woof everyone knew it when they were in the area.
If you've ever been near a paper plant, then you'd understand the horrible smell.
Driving through that stretch is such a shock if you're not ready for it. It smells like cooking fish and broccoli in a microwave to me. Rotton broccoli fart smell.
That is part of it, also the Puget Sound is kinda like pushing everything to the south with the weather and the tides.
Thankfully it's better these days. It was absolutely dreadful in the 70s and 80s
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Used to drive through there regularly. Yep. It was for real. If the wind blew a certain way or there was a heatwave, it was unbearable.
Felt the same way on a tour of a brewery where they were cooking the hops. Except that had a bit of sweetness. The Tacoma Aroma was just stultifyingly, not as sharp as sulphurous, rotten eggs. More like heavy, warm milk that had gone bad.
All day, every day. Everywhere.
I’ll steer clear of Tacoma, but I could live in the smell of hops on brew day.
It's not a problem really anymore. There's lots of fun things to do in Tacoma if you find yourself in the area. I'm not super familiar, just been through a few times
As another commenter said, it's due to paper mills which use sulphur compounds to turn wood into pulp and those are still common elsewhere in the state
Yep, the paper mills have long closed down in that area!
There's a theory that the high incidence of serial killers coming from the Tacoma area has something to do with this smell
Have a lot of them had the middle name Wayne? That's another theory.
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people might also be interested to know that downtown Chicago used to smell like brownies because of the Blommer chocolate factory that was there from 1939 to 2024
Boston sometimes smells like molasses in the summer from a molasses flood back in 1919.
I’ll just leave this here, because it’s so fascinating. Can you imagine a wave of molasses traveling at 35 mph?
I grew up in this area and I can confirm this is very real and people do call it the "Tacoma aroma". It's a very strong scent. You can smell it driving down the road with the windows closed.
I always heard it was from the paper mill but never investigated further.
We had a similar city in Norway back in the day - Moss. "Det luktær pengær!" ("It smells like money") ... smelt like shit to me. Nice place w/ nice folks, tho 👌
You'll be happy to learn that the aroma is largely absent now! Paper mill closed :)
Wisconsin unofficial motto: Come Smell our Dairy Air
Our Dairy Air = Our Dair
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HAHA!
A Garlic Aroma that would level Tacoma.
Petroleum processing is a whole other level of stink. Every breath feels dangerous to take and not just unpleasant.
Is it sulfur releasing from the volcanic activity?
Article says paper mill pollution and sewage
I've never been to Seattle, but I knew about the Tacoma Aroma from playing Shadowrun for so many years (The default setting is Seattle)
I'm someone who's lived in Washington State all my life, all over the state. Seattle and Tacoma are like brothers but only if you knew their parents first. Totally different personalities. I lived in Seattle for 20 years and going to Tacoma was always so weird. And people in Tacoma would rather be anywhere in the world than Seattle
In Shadowrun, they've merged. Not being American myself, I was surprised to discover they were actually distinct cities!
They are pretty much connected with the suburban areas between them. Driving on the freeway it's like patches of purposely reserved green spaces but you could easily drive from one to the other in a couple hours by regular roads with business buildings along the way
Tacoma is basically like The place where you get your catalytic converter stolen And no seattleites go there for any reason except maybe to get soul food or attend a rave at the Tacoma dome. Truly the valley the light does not reach lol.
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Sonoma county California smells like cow shit sometimes and we call it the Sonoma Aroma.
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I just watched an hour long documentary on the origins and history of Seattle. Holy macaroni! This place is for people who like to live on the edge and rebuild from the cut.
And it's true, half the year it is dark as fuck and it rains. Like you'd love to work on your car but it's raining sleet that afternoon so you get one more jacket on and goggles and you work on your car. There's no complaining. This place, as modern as it may be now, is still a bitch to live in.
So, if you think you just watched a wolf movie and you see yourself as living here among the pack...sure, come on over! Enjoy the beat up, and don't let that door kick you arse too hard when you're done. I would not recommend. I love it here, but do yourself a favor and don't try. Plus everyone is an engineer here so the competition is high.
The rain thing is actually bullshit. US cities that get far more rain include NYC, Chicago, Atlanta, New Orleans, Miami, Houston, and even relatively nearby Portland Or.
Amount of water yes. But come to Seattle and if you stay outside too long you'll grow green algae and mold.
I also recently learned about this and how it may have contributed to the 100s of serial killers in the 70s and 80s.
Gary Ridgeway?
Iirc, after his arrest they interviewed his coworkers and the consensus was "oh, that fits. it makes sense."
They were calling him “G.R.” and “Green River Gary” long before he got caught, too.
Yeah. They called him "Green River Gary". He was only about to kill those girls because police are shit.
Some things never change.
Hail yourself!
Hail Satan!
Oh interesting, there are cool people here
Buy bubble bee tuna..
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