Visitors going to Seattle’s famous Pike’s Place Market have been sticking gum to the Gum Wall for the past 20 years now. However, it has been recently removed with the help of industrial steam machines. Read on to find out more about this amazing wall
It is located in the heart of Seattle’s tourist district.
Just beside the Pike’s Place market.
Yup, the place where the presidential candidates try to catch fish.
The Gum Wall is in an alleyway known as Post Alley.
It measures in at 50 x 15 ft. According to an estimate by the Pike’s Place tourism board, there are about one million pieces of gum stuck to the wall.
It started in the early 1990s when people who were waiting to get into a nearby theater started sticking gum to the wall.
The city at first tried to get rid of it, however, it eventually accepted it. According to Richard Faulk, author of ‘Gross America’, it was an official Seattle landmark by 2000. The gum hasn’t yet broken down since it’s synthetic.
Faulk writes, “Now, it’s a stupid gimmick to be sure, a wall full of other people’s used chewing gum. Still, when you approach the multi-colored dots of fruit-flavored gum arrayed in broken patterns against the old brick warehouse walls, shimmering like a pointillist painting, it is rather beautiful.”
An industrial steam machine was recently used to melt the gum and then collect it.
In a way it is a good news; the public has got a fresh canvas!
Check out the video of it’s removal
