Famous chewing gum wall cleaned up after it began attracting rats

A piece of Seattle history is coming down – or rather, one million little pieces.

Like a forest charred by wildfire to soon see rebirth, so goes Seattle’s gum wall – blasted by steam cleaners on its way to renewed stickiness.

A worker in a plastic protective suit and mask used a steam cleaner to melt away part of the multi-ton kaleidoscope of chewed and stretched gum chunks, a few used as anchors for photos, business cards, notes and artwork stuck to the wall. “But it also draws rats”, an onlooker says. “I can’t imagine it’s good for brick”, Pike Place Market Preservation and Development Association representative Emily Crawford told the Seattle Times.

A few of the gum pieces plastered to the walls have been molded into messages, hearts and other shapes.

The gum wall, in an alleyway underneath the more visible market famous for its fish, fresh produce, and crafts, was started by audience members waiting in line for the nearby Market Theater, said Kent Whipple, a theater spokesman.

“I just hope that the citizens of Seattle don’t hate me for removing the gum wall”, said Kelly Foster, the contractor’s general manager. Since then, the “gum wall” has expanded beyond one wall and onto other walls of an alley, pipes and even the theater’s box office window.

According to local reports, the thorough steam-clean should take up the remainder of the week.

Crews will weigh the gum as they remove it.

“We’ll find out at the end of the week how right my guesstimate really is”, she said.

Far, far from hygienic but beloved all the same, the Gum Wall is located in Post Alley underneath Pike Place market.