Seattle’s famous gum wall has now been cleaned off

Twenty years worth of chewing gum is pictured before its removal in Post Alley at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, Washington on November 11, 2015.

The Pike Place Market’s “Gum Wall” alleyway has attracted locals and tourists for more than 20 years, where their colorful wads of gum have become staples of the city.

“It’s an icon. It’s history”, said onlooker Zoe Freeman, who works near Pike Place. Theatre workers scraped the gum away but eventually gave up as the sticky business continued, and in 1999 Market officials deemed the wall a tourist attraction. But they expect people will start leaving gum on the space again soon.

The market hired a contractor to use steam because pressure washing would damage the historic building.

On Tuesday, a fruity, sweet smell wafted through the alley as workers in protective suits blasted the dried gum with moist air.

A spokeswoman for the market, Emily Crawford, said despite the wall’s popularity, it was in urgent need of a clean.

“NPR member station KUOW in Seattle reports that it began in 1991 when theater-goers started sticking their gum to the wall as they waited in line”. I just thought it was one wall.

The cleaning begins at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

“The machine will melt the gum with 280-degree steam; it will fall to the ground, and a two- to three-man crew will collect the gum in five-gallon buckets”.

The bacteria-filled brick wall had 20-years-worth of gum attached to it, as it was tradition for visitors to attach their own gum to the wall.