Monsieur's Maps

The places that made me

I am trying to be a neighborhood parfumer — a maker of scent for the neighbors he loves. But these days, I think most of us belong to more than one neighborhood: the one we live in now, the ones that made us, the ones we keep coming back to. These are mine — drawn by hand, and marked with the parks, the beaches, the tables, and the corners worth your time.

Tap a city to open its map

No. I

San Francisco

Parks, the wild coast, and the corners that shape the fragrances — home.

View the map → No. II

Oʻahu

The pink hotels, Diamond Head, and the quiet local beaches — where the parfumer was a boy.

View the map → No. III

Cambridge & Boston

Harvard and the Great Dome, the Common and the North End, and the Red and Green Lines across the Charles.

View the map → No. IV

Paris

The gardens more than the monuments — the Seine holding it all together.

View the map → No. V

Sydney

The sails on the harbour, the fig-shaded gardens, and the ocean pool at the end of Bondi.

View the map → No. VI

Stockholm

The grand hotel and the palace, the design house on Strandvägen, and the great warship raised whole from the harbour.

View the map → No. VII

Dhaka

Dhanmondi and its lake, the cycle rickshaws and buses, and the wide brown Buriganga where all of Bengal pushes off at once.

View the map → No. VIII

The Big Island

The volcano, the white summit of Mauna Kea, Akaka Falls, and Sig Zane down in Hilo — the last place in the parfumer's soul.

View the map →