Seattle is known for many things: Starbucks, the grunge scene, hipsters, seafood, rain, and the Space Needle. It boasts a high concentration of art and flannel. It is the home for the 12’s and the ferry system. It is a city that I love more than any other. For me one of the best expressions of Seattle’s culture is Pike Place Market (and it is Pike Place, not Pike’s Place). Pike Place combines so many of the things nearest and dearest to a Seattleite: art, fresh produce and sea food, local businesses, and coffee. It is home to the original Starbucks and my personal favorite place on earth, Beecher’s Cheese Factory. And up until Wednesday, November 11, 2015, the gum wall stood in all its germy, Seattle, glory.
The gum wall was a personal favorite stop of mine. Every time I went to Pike Place, I would go to Dailey Dozen, get a bag of the world’s best doughnuts, then stop at the corner stand right next to it and buy a pack of Double Mint gum. Then I would walk down the alley in which posters and street art faded and changed into millions of pieces of gum. I’d chew a piece of my Double Mint, search through my pockets and purse for any piece of paper, a fortune from a cookie, a movie ticket, ferry ticket, bus pass, wallet sized picture, or just a scrap. I’d examine the wall for the perfect spot, stretch the gum from my mouth, add it to the wall, and attach whatever memento I had found. Not every piece of my gum was stretched, some was placed on and pushed in with my thumb, others did not include paper, each addition that I made to the wall was unique, just as everyone else’s.
When I found out the gum was going to be removed from the wall, I was devastated. For me it was not just a sticky mess covered in germs; the wall was art, history — it was something that I was a part of, something I was proud of Seattle for creating.
The gum wall began 20 years ago. It is on the outer wall of the Improv Market Theatre. When people waited in line for shows, they would stick their gum and often a coin on the wall then enter the theater. The owners of Market Theatre tried to remove the gum but people just kept adding and eventually it became too much to control. Over these 20 years, the wall grew to a massive eight by 54 feet and accumulated over one million pieces of gum weighing 2,350 pounds. In some places it was six inches thick with approximately 150 pieces of gum per brick. It took workers over 130 hours and an estimated $4,000 to finish the job.
The gum wall was named one of the world’s germiest attractions, but it had a special place in so many Seattleite’s hearts. Every piece of the original wall has officially been removed, but people have already begun rebuilding it. I expect that the gum wall 2.0 will grow even faster than the original. Of course I was sad to see a part of my home gone, but everything is much different now than it was 20 years ago, it makes sense that the gum wall be a representation of life in Seattle now. So while I was sad to see it go, I am excited to be part of the next generation who gets to rebuild the wall to be something even more creative, beautiful, and slightly disgusting.
