Variety and the other occupants of 5700 Wilshire Boulevard have been alerted to a funky odor in the neighborhood almost across from the La Brea Tar Pits:

The building management has informed us that the sulphur smell is very pervasive and extensive: up and down Wilshire Blvd. and south to Olympic Blvd. The cause may or may not be construction; there are several construction sites in the area, but so far nothing is definitive. They are monitoring the situation and will release a memo when more facts are known. As to the possibility of a potential health hazard, that's unknown at this time as well. We'll send out updates as we get more information.

Yeah, I'm sure everyone at Variety is trying not to think of Ross Dress for Less right now. The smell wafting around is a reminder that the whole neighborhood around the tar pits is, shall we say, petrochemically interesting. They are now building in the pit where the Broadway used to be at Wilshire and Hauser, but until work began you could look down in the hole and see oil or tar pooling up. Don't be fooled into thinking the tar pits are contained under the little pond outside the Page Museum. Gooey asphaltum underlies much of the area and pops up in unexpected places. So do burps of methane and various underground smells.

Previously in L.A. stenches:
L.A.'s November reek
Mystery stench invades Long Beach
Hey, NYC got a better stench
Our Iraq correspondent's nose knows
That Westside stench