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SEATTLE — Beloved by some, loathed by many — an iconic site at Seattle's Pike Place Market will soon get a major scrub down.
The so-called Gum Wall in Post Alley got its start 20 years ago when people waiting in line for an improv show stuck their chewed-up gum on the brick wall of Market Theater, according to King 5 News. Since then, millions of visitors from around the world have come with gum in hand to make their mark on the colorful, albeit disgusting, canvas.
"It wasn't a landmark that was created, it wasn't designed to be a tourist destination," Mercedes Carrabba, owner of Market Ghost Tours and Ghost Alley Espresso told KUOW. "That is the really incredible part of the gum wall: It seriously is a completely interactive part of Seattle."
But the sugars in the gum are starting to cause major damage to the wall, so for the first time, the market plans to remove it through an extensive steaming process that is expected to take days. After all, cleaning up an estimated 1 million pieces of chewed-up gum is bound to be a sticky process.
King 5 reports the wall — which has grown to 8 feet high and 54 feet wide — averages about 150 pieces of gum per brick.
For those who have always dreamed up chewing a piece of gum and sticking it on top of gum that's been chewed by millions of strangers — yikes — hope is not lost. Pike Place plans to open the wall back up to all the Trident, Stride, Doublemint and Bubblicious it can handle once the cleaning process is complete.
In the meantime, the market is holding a Gum Wall photo contest on its Facebook page. So if you've braved the sugar- and mint-scented alley and snapped a rad image of your experience, submit it here.
Crews are expected to start work on the wall on Nov. 10.
