Gum Wall


The Market Theater Gum Wall is a brick wall covered in used chewing gum located in an alleyway in Post Alley under Pike Place Market in Downtown Seattle. Much like Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo, California, the Market Theater Gum Wall is a local landmark. Parts of the wall are covered several inches thick, high along a section.
The wall is by the box office for the Market Theater. The tradition began around 1993 when patrons of Unexpected Productions' Seattle Theatresports stuck gum to the wall and placed coins in the gum blobs. Theater workers scraped the gum away twice, but eventually gave up after market officials deemed the gum wall a tourist attraction around 1999. Some people created small works of art out of gum.
It was named one of the top 5 germiest tourist attractions in 2009, second to the Blarney Stone. It is the location of the start of a ghost tour, and also a popular site with wedding photographers. The state governor, Jay Inslee, said it is his "favorite thing about Seattle you can't find anywhere else".
A scene in the 2009 Jennifer Aniston film Love Happens was shot at the wall.
On November 3, 2015, it was announced by the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority that for the first time in 20 years the great attraction gum wall would be receiving a total scrub down for maintenance and steam cleaning, to prevent further erosion of the bricks on the walls from the sugar in the gum. Work began on November 10 and took 130 hours to complete, with over of gum removed and disposed of. After the cleaning was finished on November 13, gum began to be re-added to the wall; among the first additions were memorials to the November 2015 Paris attacks.