And now, Sandy Berger continues to document the smells and sounds of the IHOP underneath her window. The restaurant installed a ventilator unit to dial down the bacon odors, but with noise levels up, Ms. Berger’s battle continues.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012
An inspector came to my apartment and told me that since a violation had already been given they couldn’t serve another one until Sept. 10 when IHOP is due in “court” (he didn’t say which court, but did say that those making the complaints could not be present). This is just not right! We shouldn’t have to rely on the Department of Environmental Protection to describe the schizoid life we’re leading between smells and noise (in some cases, both at the same time); we should have the right to speak for ourselves without having to sue a major corporation.

Saturday, July 28
During a meeting of the ad hoc committee that’s been waging a war to regain our pre-IHOP quality of life, we visited each other’s apartments to understand how we each were affected. The people on the first two floors seem to be bothered by the noise more than smells. They can’t see the eyesore that has become the landscape for the upper floors, which seem to be affected by smells more than noise. The middle floors win the trifecta: they get them all, up close and personal. Read more…

Sandy Berger The ventilator unit.

After neighbors complained for weeks about the “constant roar” and “inescapable blare” of IHOP’s new ventilator unit, the restaurant on East 14th Street was issued a noise violation on Monday, the Department of Environmental Protection said.

The noise from the ventilator, which was installed after complaints about an unbearable smell of bacon, had caused neighbors to file at least four complaints with the DEP. On Monday, the restaurant was smacked with $560 in fines, said Ted Timbers, a spokesperson for the agency.

But neighbors will have to keep complaining before they can get their peace and quiet: Mr. Timbers said the DEP can’t serve IHOP with an order to cease and desist until it has been issued three separate violations, and the Environmental Control Board won’t make a ruling about the first one until Sept. 10.

Mary Beth Powers, a neighbor of the pancake house, felt the city wasn’t doing enough. “Factory restaurants like IHOP don’t belong directly beneath people’s homes,” she said. “The city is so worried about our health that they want to ban mega-sodas and cigarettes (ideas that have merit); I wish they would extend that concern to making sure that commercial establishments located in heavily populated neighborhoods don’t make those areas uninhabitable.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the ventilation unit as a “smog-hog.” That reference has been deleted since the term is a brand name and Smog Hog says that it did not manufacture the unit in question.

Sandy Berger The ventilation unit on the roof of IHOP.

Out of the bacon frying pan, into the din of the ventilation unit.

Earlier this month, neighbors of the IHOP on East 14th Street were thrilled when the smell of bacon was greatly reduced by a new ventilator unit on the roof of the restaurant. But the elation quickly gave way to frustration as they realized that the odor-eater causes an around-the-clock ruckus.

“It looks like a locomotive and sounds like a locomotive,” said Sandy Berger, who documented her life as an IHOP neighbor in The Bacon Diaries. Read more…

Sandy Berger The new machinery.

Can the neighbors of IHOP breathe easy?

Sandy Berger, a watchdog of the chain restaurant that she dubbed The International House of Putrid Odors, just sent over photos of a new piece of equipment that seems to have eliminated the overwhelming odor of bacon that has tormented her and many others for months.

“I can smell something now, but it doesn’t assault you. It would be the same as if you were walking down the hallway and you smelled a neighbor’s cooking,” Ms. Berger said. “That’s livable. It’s nothing like it had been before. Nothing.”

Ms. Berger added that three or four workers installed the machine on Tuesday using blowtorches and jackhammers.
Read more…

Earlier this month, The Local learned that the installation of an odor-eating ventilation unit at IHOP had been delayed, raising concerns among neighbors that the bacon smell emanating from the restaurant was there to stay. In the meantime Sandy Berger, whose apartment overlooks the roof of the International House of Putrid Odors, as she calls it, continues to maintain her diary of olfactory impressions.

Sandy Berger’s Bacon Dairy, Page Three

Sandy Berger Could it be? Are these workers preparing for installation of the ventilation unit.

Thursday, June 14

My wake-up call came at 7 a.m. this morning in the form of bacon grease from IHOP — not my alarm clock! And it was still going strong at 8:42 a.m. When I came back home at 1:30 p.m. I could smell that lunch was in full swing, but it was bearable.

Friday, June 15

At 8 a.m. there were no smells, but four hours later the bacon grease was definitely on the burner! It is now 3 p.m. and the smell still lingers.
Read more…

Last week, Sandy Berger began documenting every scent and stench that wafted from the IHOP underneath her apartment as she waited for the International House of Putrid Odors, as she called it, to install a $40,000 ventilation unit. An IHOP representative has now told The Local that delivery of the bacon buster has been delayed, and it’s unknown when it’ll arrive. And Louis, a manager at the 14th Street location who would only give his first name, said the swine swatter is being custom built. “It’s in the hands of the exhaust company that is making it,” he said. In the meantime, let’s continue following Ms. Berger’s nose.

Sandy Berger’s Bacon Dairy, Page Two

Monday, June 4
No smells today. Maybe everyone took a three-day weekend!

Tuesday, June 5
At 4:13 p.m. there were no smells, but then again there weren’t a lot of garbage bags visible either. Around 7 p.m. I began to feel hungry and realized that I was getting a whiff of bacon grease. It wasn’t as strong as it has been but after about 30 minutes I decided I’d rather smell the food I was going to eat. It’s 11:16 p.m. and I’m back in my bedroom but I guess it’s still dinnertime at IHOP because there are wafts of the usual you-know-what smells.

Daniel Maurer

Wednesday, June 6
Nothing much in the way of smells today. I’m wondering whether this ventilation unit has been installed inside and we’re beginning to see the benefit, or did every customer order salads today?

Friday, June 8
At noon, a new smell was introduced – burnt toast! No way as awful as bacon grease, but anything burnt isn’t welcome, even in my own kitchen. At 9:30 p.m. the smell switched to hamburger fat dripping into stove flames: annoying but so far not overwhelming.

Saturday, June 9
At 8:30 a.m., even before I got out of bed, that familiar smell of bacon grease was there which sort of surprised me since I was hoping I wasn’t going to ever smell it again unless I was cooking it. It lasted most of the day, letting up around 7:30 p.m. What a disappointment.

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this post referred to the ventilation unit as a “smog-hog.” That reference has been deleted since the term is a brand name and Smog Hog says that it did not manufacture the unit in question.