On September 15, 2006, the San Diego Union Tribune (
visit link) ran the following story:
"What's that nasty smell in the Gaslamp Quarter?
By Dani Dodge
STAFF WRITER
September 15, 2006
There's something in the air in the Gaslamp.
Partyers wrinkle their noses at it. Downtown dwellers change their dog-walking routes. Restaurant diners ask to be seated inside.
NELVIN CEPEDA / Union-Tribune
Brian Taylor, the daytime manager at Cesar's cigar bar, says he is befuddled when customers ask him about the aroma that has invaded the Gaslamp Quarter.
The mysterious vomit-meets-sewage-tinged-with-rotten-egg smell wafting on the breeze even incenses those smoking pungent Partagas at Cesar's cigar bar. “The only one who wouldn't be able to sense it would have to have a nose disorder,” said Roy Stein, who enjoyed puffing Gloria Cubanas on Cesar's sidewalk patio until the reek wrecked it.
Since early August, the stench has been hanging out with the crowds around the block bordered by Fifth Avenue, Island Avenue, Sixth Avenue and Market Street. People who work and play there say it's stinkiest in the morning and at its worst on the weekends, but can assault the schnoz anytime, day or night. Sometimes it just disappears.
One downtown restaurant owner said it smells like dead rodents rotting in a sewer pipe. A downtown businesswoman seemed surprised anyone else had noticed: “I just thought it was bums.”
Jimmy Parker, the Gaslamp Quarter Association's executive director, has tried to sniff out the source – to no avail. Restaurants cleaned out their grease traps. Workers hosed down the sidewalks. Over and over. The fetid odor still danced on the wind.
“It's like having that intermittent computer problem,” he moaned.
Parker said the association called the city, but the city's sewage department has no record of a complaint. And despite a universal revulsion, no one else has complained either, said Michael Scahill, the supervising public information officer for Metropolitan Wastewater.
Scahill said that if someone calls, he will send out a team with stink sensors to root out the reek. It could be a plugged-up storm sewer or a leaking sewage pipe. With its intermittent nature, “it could be anything,” he said.
“When I first smelled it, I was repulsed,” said John Taylor, as he walked his yellow Lab, Duke, through the Gaslamp Quarter on a recent morning. “My girlfriend and I looked at each other, held our noses and said 'pee-eew.' ”
Now when he has friends in town, he steers them away from Sixth and Market, which he considers the “epicenter.”
“We don't want them getting the wrong impression of the place,” Taylor said.
At the Royal Thai Restaurant, people dining on the sidewalk patio have requested seats inside so the stench doesn't sour their satay.
“This is the middle of the Gaslamp,” said manager James Bun. “The city should do something about it.”
Both he and the day manager at Cesar's are befuddled when customers query them about the smell.
“I just tell them I don't know what it is,” said Cesar's day manager Brian Taylor (no relation to the dog walker except both have offended noses). “Sometimes I can be on the patio, and all of the sudden it creeps up on you.”
Cigar aficionado Stein said he's fed up. He lives in the Marina district, and several nights a week he walks to the Gaslamp for dinner and socializing.
“We don't need any negative advertisements for the real estate market,” he said. “I don't want an out-of-town conventioneer to be affronted with the smell.
“They might not want to come back.”
Last week, he wrote to Mayor Jerry Sanders, the Centre City Development Corp. and the Gaslamp Quarter Association. Only the association responded. Its e-mail suggested he file a complaint with the city.
If the complaint ever gets filed, maybe then, the mystery will be solved. But don't hold your breath.
Hold your nose.
The city's sewage emergency hotline is (619) 515-3525."