This California Bus Stop Doubles as an Experimental Perfume Lab

At one Venice Boulevard bus stop in Los Angeles, you can get a spritz of perfume for the road. As CityLab reports, artist Alan Nakagawa recently installed Street Perfume Bus Stop, a work of public art that invites people to take a big old whiff of Los Angeles.

Nakagawa is the first to take part in the new Creative Catalyst artist-in-residence program from the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, working with the L.A. Department of Transportation to change how people perceive the city’s streets.

When visitors approach the bus stop, they’re invited to stick their hands inside a small machine that reads “try street perfume.” If they’re daring enough to do so, they get a spray of one of three perfumes Nakagawa designed himself at the Institute for Art and Olfaction, a non-profit in L.A. devoted to all things scent.

The first scent that debuted with the installation was named “Into Town,” which was based on the tradition of sweaty California cowboys rubbing sagebrush all over their bodies when they couldn’t bathe before heading into town. In late June, the stop began offering “Economic Development,” a lavender scent that morphs into a coffee smell. This perfume was inspired by the debate over gentrification. Next up is “Hollywood Springtime," designed to be a flowery, pleasant smell that you immediately forget—just like you forget about weather when you live in always-temperate L.A.

Nakagawa’s previous transportation art created during his residence includes an LADOT-themed zine and haikus installed on bike lane signs across town.