About Seattle Gum Wall
Post Alley beside Pike Place Market contains a wall covered with something most property owners would remove immediately: used chewing gum. Thousands upon thousands of colorful pieces cling to the brick, forming an accidental public artwork that continues growing because visitors keep contributing to it.
The tradition began in the 1990s around the entrance to Unexpected Productions. People waiting in line began sticking gum to the wall, sometimes pressing coins or making small designs with it. Cleaning attempts did not end the habit. The gum returned, spread farther along the alley, and eventually became an attraction in its own right.
The wall has accumulated so much material that individual pieces merge into broad fields of color, interrupted by names, hearts, shapes, stretched strings, and occasional objects pressed into the gum. The effect can look surprisingly bright from a distance and considerably less pleasant when viewed up close.
Pike Place Market has periodically removed massive amounts of gum for maintenance, only to watch the wall begin rebuilding almost immediately. Seattle did not commission the Gum Wall, and there was no master artist. It simply reached the point where enough people repeated the same disgusting act that the result became a landmark.