Seattle’s famous Pike Place Market Gum Wall was stripped of more than 2,350 pounds of chewing gum in November 2015, but the clean bricks did not stay bare for long.
Workers spent an estimated 130 hours removing the sticky buildup from the wall in Post Alley, per the Seattle Times. By the following day, visitors were already sticking fresh gum onto the bricks, bringing the unusual tourist attraction back to life.
The major cleanup marked the first time in 20 years that the wall had been cleared of gum. According to a news release from the Pike Place Market Preservation & Development Authority, workers filled 94 buckets with the discarded gum during the cleaning process.
The gum was set to be thrown away, while the historic brick wall received a fresh start. However, visitors quickly began adding new pieces, showing how firmly the strange Seattle landmark had become part of the city’s tourist scene.
Downtown Seattle’s iconic Gum Wall at Pike Place Market is undergoing its first cleaning in nearly five years. Seattle’s iconic Gum Wall at Pike Place Market underwent a significant cleaning in November 2024, marking its first thorough cleaning since 2019. This cleaning process… pic.twitter.com/ez0qfx4Wq4
— LadyInRed? (@__Lady__In__Red) November 11, 2024The return of the gum started almost immediately after the cleanup. A flash mob gathered in Post Alley and began covering parts of the wall again.
The Gum Wall stands in Post Alley, beneath Pike Place Market, beside the Market Theater box office. The brick wall measures about eight feet high and 54 feet long. Over the years, visitors covered its surface with chewed gum in many colors, creating a thick layer across the bricks and mortar.
The unusual tradition began in the early 1990s, when people waiting in line for shows at the Market Theater started sticking gum on the wall. According to Emmanuel Tsouris, one person pressed a penny into a piece of gum while waiting to enter a performance. Other people followed, and the practice grew.
By the end of 1995, the wall was covered with gum and coins. Someone later removed the coins, leaving the gum behind. Visitors continued adding more pieces even after the money disappeared.
Pike Place Market officials initially tried to stop the buildup because the gum covered the historic brickwork. The market had the wall cleaned more than once, but the gum kept coming back. By 1998, the wall had filled up again for a third time, and officials stopped trying to prevent the practice.
The 2015 cleanup was different in scale. Workers used high-pressure steam and hot water to remove the hardened gum. The effort was meant to protect the old bricks from the thick buildup, which officials feared could harm the wall’s condition.
The cleaning also gave visitors a rare chance to see the bricks without their colorful covering. People came to take pictures before the work began, while others visited after hearing that the wall would briefly look different from the landmark they knew.
Visitors kept bringing gum to the alley, pressing it onto the bricks and taking photographs of their contributions.
Pike Place Market officials had expected the practice to resume. Emily Crawford, then the market’s director of communications and marketing, described the wall as a shared work of public art.
In a statement about the cleanup, she said, according to The Guardian, “We expect the gum wall will live on – it’s a Seattle tradition and a crowd-sourced piece of public art that people really enjoy,” Crawford said. “But it’s time to start with a clean canvas.”
The wall’s popularity also brought concerns about cleanliness. In 2009, TripAdvisor ranked the Gum Wall as the second-germiest tourist attraction in the world, behind Ireland’s Blarney Stone, which visitors kiss.
Despite its reputation, the attraction continued to draw people who wanted to see it in person. Some visitors bought gum nearby specifically to add their own pieces. Others used the wall as a backdrop for selfies or created names, symbols and small designs with different colors.
For Pike Place Market, the repeated cycle of cleaning and rebuilding became part of the wall’s story. Removing the gum helped protect the historic bricks, but the public’s continued interest made it difficult to keep the surface clean.
The 2015 effort ultimately proved that even a major cleanup could not end the tradition. After 20 years of gum buildup, workers removed more than a ton of sticky waste in 130 hours. Yet within a day, visitors were already adding new pieces.
The Gum Wall’s return was a reminder of how a small act by people waiting in a theater line had grown into one of Seattle’s most unusual tourist attractions.
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