The Best Film & Fragrance in New York City

Where to sniff, shop, and see, from the Naxos Apothecary to the Angelika.

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If you listened to season one of the Smell That Movie podcast, then you know that two of my very favorite things are films and fragrances. While you can enjoy both from home, I think it's more fun to make them an active part of your practice. 

For me, enjoying film and fragrance out in the world in New York City — walking, viewing, smelling — is meditative, and it’s usually what I’m picturing if you ask me for my perfect day.

So, if you find yourself in NYC, let me share with you the best ways to take yourself on a film-and-fragrance date. There are, of course, a lot of places to see movies in New York, and a lot of places to smell beautiful smells. Below are the areas I believe provide the best and most plentiful opportunities to do so. 

NOLITA

Perhaps the best, most full-day film-and-fragrance day you can have in New York is in Nolita. Elizabeth Street and its surrounding area have become a hub for fragrance (I call it Little Perfume). Little Perfume is a hop and a skip away from the Angelika Theater or the Anthology Film Archives. After seeing a film at either theater, you can easily walk to fragrance boutiques: Stéle, Osswald, and Scent Bar; the heritage Italian house Santa Maria Novella; the Greek house the Naxos Apothecary; and the Korean house Elorea. For candles, diffusers, and bath products, visit Blueme. And there are always locations of many popular houses like Le Labo (original location), Aesop, D.S. & DURGA, Diptyque, Glossier, Boy Smells, and Commodity. If you head a touch west towards Soho, you’ll find the new US location of Penhaligon's, as well as Kilian and Amouage. You can truly spend all day smelling around Nolita. For Anthology Film Archives, I recommend checking showtimes, as they don’t screen as many films as other theaters. For the Angelika, if you’re a member, tickets are half off on Tuesdays, and you get free popcorn for your birthday month!

UPTOWN

The uptown version of this day centers around another jewel in the Angelika crown — Cinema 123. It has some arthouse charm with the added bonus of a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine. For smells, uptown you have the expansive fragrance collections of the New York department stores Bergdorf Goodman and Bloomingdale's. You also have the US location of the Brazilian brand Granado, the ultra-luxury Swiss brand Amaffi, the Dior store, and the heritage brand Krigler, which is located in the concourse of the Plaza Hotel.  You can also walk a little farther north on the east side and hit Museum Mile; some of those gift shops carry fragrances, too.

WEST VILLAGE

In the West Village, you have two incredible repertory/independent theaters: IFC and Film Forum. For fragrance, you have a few of the usual suspects (Aesop, Diptyque, etc.), but you also have Naked Ghosts, Frédéric Malle, Bond No. 9, Ranger Station, and, further west towards the Meatpacking District, Parfums de Marley.

LOWER EAST SIDE

Back on the east side, and further downtown, you should smell around Aedes — a 30-year-old fragrance boutique on the Lower East Side, as well as Seoul-based brand Nonfiction’s first U.S. location. Then, you can head to the haven for cinephiles, the Metrograph Theater. The Metrograph also has a restaurant (The Commissary) for those looking for dinner and a show.

BROOKLYN

In Brooklyn, there is another Little Perfume forming in Williamsburg, near both Williamsburg Cinemas and the North Brooklyn Nitehawk location. Much like Nolita, there’s a Stéle, a Scent Bar, as well as the usual suspects (Glossier, Olfactory, Aesop, Le Labo, Diptyque, Byredo, Malin + Goetz, D.S. & Durga, etc.), but there’s also Japanese brand Linc Original Makers as well as Beautélier’s.

A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT FILM & FRAGRANCE EXPERIENCE

If you want to go beyond simply smelling around a store, a 20-minute walk from the AMC Magic Johnson Theater in Harlem is MUSE. Modern Urban Sensory Experiences (MUSE) is an appointment-only perfume destination in a townhouse that specializes in curating a unique collection of niche, luxury, emerging, and global fragrances. Kimberly Waters truly creates an all-encompassing sensory journey (one I had the joy of attending back in 2022).

Despite not being in a perfume hub, I wanted to include my personal favorite movie theater on this list: the Prospect Park Nitehawk. For a sensory experience before your movie, I recommend spending time in Prospect Park across the street. You can check online to see what’s currently in bloom and where. Or you can wander and get lost in the park’s lush flora; just don’t miss your movie. 🌀

You can listen to the second season of Smell That Movie next week, 9/4, on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Podbean, or wherever else you get podcasts.

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Carly Silverman is a writer and producer who’s worked in television + digital media. Her passions are film, fragrance, literary fiction, animation, and the New Jersey music scene. You can catch her doing comedy with Young Douglas or here on X.