If you've ever been to Seattle, especially as a tourist, you've probably seen the Market Theater Gum Wall.
And, depending on your personality, you either went up for a closer look at this bizarre, singular monument, or you backed as far away as possible. Really, either are understandable.
The Gum Wall, located in Seattle's famous Post Alley, is a wall spanning about 50 feet long and completely covered in chewing gum. Used chewing gum. No one's exactly sure why, but it seems like humans just like putting stuff where it doesn't belong.
If you thought what you stuck under chairs and desks at school when you were a kid was bad, it was nothing compared to this…
In places, the gum could reach heights of 15 feet and up to several inches thick. It was gross, but it was also a beloved and iconic landmark and had lasted for some 20 years.
But that all changed on November 10, when the city finally decided it was time for a bath. They sent workers in who scraped, chipped, and steam-cleaned the gum off the brick walls, exposing the brick for the first time in two decades.
Check out the rise and fall — and likely rebirth — of this landmark below.
(h/t: Lost At E Minor, Wikipedia, Seattle Times)
It all started back in 1993, when theater patrons would stick coins to the wall with gum. Theater workers scraped the gum away a few times, but the tradition was beginning to, well, stick. They gave up and let the gum pile up.
The officials at the nearby Pike Place market, which drew tourists anyway, finally declared this oddity a tourist attraction in its own right in 1999.
In 2009, it was named one of the top five most germ-filled tourist attractions in the world, second only to the Blarney Stone.
Still, that doesn't stop people from flocking to it and even having their wedding photos taken here!
Some people like to get creative with their designs. Which is kinda gross when you think about it.
But in November of 2015, the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority decided that after 20 years of gum, a cleaning was in order.
The whole wall got a scrub-down, dislodging the ancient gum in a sickeningly-sweet cloud of steam. It wasn't just the germs; the sugar in the gum had actually begun to erode the brick wall!
However, the Gum Wall is likely going to come back. Once the wall is clean, people will be allowed to stick gum to it once again. After all, it's a point of civic pride!
Watch as city workers, protected by Hazmat suits, clean the Gum Wall in clouds of bubblegum-scented steam.
City officials have no doubt the Gum Wall will rise again — it's way too popular to just go away. And Seattlites are okay with that.
After all, this bizarre, germ-filled spot drew thousands of tourists with its sheer ick factor. How could you give that up?
It's truly the end of an era — or perhaps the beginning of a new one. Either way, spread the gummy word by SHARING the news.
