Thick-O-Licious

Photo & Text Copyright 2009 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

I noticed last month that some of my posts from previous years were all of a sudden receiving many visits each day. Folks were landing on them after a web search for the term "gum wall." Turns out that Trip Advisor published a list in June of the top five germy places on the planet to visit. Seattle's little sticky spot is now globally famous as second only to the Blarney Stone in the "ew!" factor of tourist attractions. I started photographing the Market Theater gum wall in Post Alley in 2006 and have shared several views of it here and on More Seattle Stuff and my Flickr page over the years. I've given updates like this one before, but since interest is so keen right now, I thought it was a good time to give you an update and popped down Post Alley Sunday. I wasn't prepared for the amazing increase in the number of people wandering down the alley looking for it and the pretty noticeable thickening of the layers since my last visit in May. In the 20 minutes I was in the area I counted over 60 people go by and a number of disgruntled drivers who had to wait for them to pass like so many sheep on a country road. It used to be mainly patrons of the Alibi Room and Market Theater, workers from Pike Place Public Market, people who lived nearby, interested photographers, and the occasional tourist telling their kids not to touch it. I'm thinking the increased notoriety is not the best thing that could have happened. We'll see. . . This guy was making a video. Perhaps San Luis Obispo's "Bubble Gum Alley" should have made the list instead, since it's much larger and has been notorious since the 1960's, long before the little trend started here. A few more current views of this ever changing de facto interactive public art work are in a clickable mosaic at More Seattle Stuff.