Over the last 15+ years I have been to Pike Place Market in Seattle many, many times. I've had coffee at the original Starbucks, bought flowers in the market, eaten the oh so yummy goodies at Piroshky Piroshky, Confectional Cheesecakes, Daily Dozen Donut Company, Chukar Cherries and Sosio's Fruit and Produce to name a few. I've sat on the pig, watched the guys through the fish, walked the steps down to the waterfront (and then climbed back up), had more than one beer at Pike Place Brewery and made just a few purchases at other stalls and shops. So how come I've never seen the Post Alley Gum Wall before?
The Post Alley Gum Wall is about about 1.5km long and 4-5 metres tall and I'm guessing several inches thick with gum - bubble gum, chewing gum, lots of gum. It runs along side the the box office for the Market Theatre.
The story goes that people queing up for the box office started sticking their gum to the wall. The theatre staff scraped the wall clean, twice.
They gave up, and market officials declared it a tourist attraction, back in 1999. Some of the gum is over 10 years old!
TripAdvisor declared it 2nd of the Top 5 Germiest World Attractions - behind the Blarney Stone and ahead of Oscar Wilde's Tomb.