We’ve seen all kinds of public art on walls: ones painted with brushes, spray-painted ones, mosaics and so on. In California’s Central Coast, in the city of San Luis Obispo are a couple of walls painted with — guess what — gum! This unusual attraction that’s made its way into the area’s list of tourist attractions and travel brochures has come to be known as Bubblegum Alley.
Bubblegum Alley
Tucked between two buildings, these colorful walls make you want to go ‘ooh’ and ‘eww’ at the same time. Plastered with chewed gum, Bubblegum Alley is spread over 70 feet and goes as high as 15 feet, with the buildup densest at the bottom.
These twin canvases colored with pink, white, green and yellow globs, is a group project that has been attracting people since nobody-knows-when. Even its origins are unclear. Some people believe it dates back to the Second World War, when the students of the local high school decided to mark their graduation by leaving a mark here on these walls. Yet another lore says it began as a sign of rivalry between the students of San Luis Obispo High School and California Polytechnic!
Whatever the beginnings of this graffiti in gum, Bubblegum Alley, as it has come to be known, has become an attraction that’s hard to ignore. Over the decades of its existence, hundreds of thousands of chewed pieces of gum have been stuck here by locals and tourists alike. These walls have been cleaned a few times, but they seem to come back to life. It does seem like this community art project is here to stay.
How to get to these Gum Walls
If you just drive through San Luis Obispo hoping to see Bubblegum Alley, you’re going to miss it. You’ll have to be on foot and walking up or down Higuera Street to catch sight of it between the stores, restaurants and boutiques of this tourist town.
It’s in the 700th Block, the block between Churro Street and Broad Street. To be exact, Bubblegum Alley is situated between 733 and 737 Higuera Street.
It’s a one-way street and has limited street parking, so go prepared to drive around a bit before you find a place to park.
More murals from California’s Central Coast:
Mack and the boys, Cannary Row
An open-air gallery in Oxnard, CA
Found in Solvang
Colors from Pismo Beach
Linking to —
Monday Mural on Colourful World
An unusual mural. Thanks for participating in Monday Murals Dee.
The similarly disgusting bubblegum wall in Seattle may not be as historic, but it’s just as gross!
Well, I don’t really know what to think of it. This chewing gum is definitely not on the ground. I once saw a wall like that in Belgium too, don’t remember where