Bubblegum Alley is a local tourist landmark in downtown San Luis Obispo, California

San Luis Obispo, California

San Luis Obispo is a city in California, located roughly midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles on the Central Coast. Founded in 1772 by Spanish Fr. Junipero Serra, San Luis Obispo is one of California’s oldest communities...

, known for its accumulation of used bubble gum on the walls of an alley. It is a 15 feet (4.6 m) high and 70 feet (21.3 m) long alley lined with chewed gum left by passers-by. The locally created, "most-talked-about landmark" covers a stretch of 20 meters between 733 and 734 Higuera Street in downtown San Luis Obispo.

History

According to the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Business Improvement Association, the history of who actually started this gum fiesta is "a little sketchy". Some historians believe that the tradition of the Alley started after WWII as a San Luis Obispo High School graduating class event. Others believe it to have started in the late 1950s as rivalry between San Luis Obispo High School

San Luis Obispo High School

San Luis Obispo High School, also referred to as "SLO High", is an American public high school in San Luis Obispo, California. It is the only non-continuation public high school within the city. The school is a member of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District and serves primarily students...

 and Cal Poly students. As soon as the Poly students suspected that the high school was trying to out-do them on the gum walls, the college students stepped up their game and immediately became more creative, thus launching Bubblegum Alley. In any case, by the 1970s Bubblegum Alley was well under way. When shop owners complained that it was "unsanitary and disgusting", the alley underwent a full cleaning. The gum graffiti survived two full cleanings in the '70s, but when, in 1996, the BIA attempted to have another full cleaning, it was not passed.

Recognition

Throughout the years, San Luis Obispo's Bubblegum Alley has been featured on a number of television shows, news programs, and in newspapers around the world. Newspapers such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....

have addressed the disgusts and delights of the gum wall visitors. Other newspaper articles have appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle

San Francisco Chronicle

thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

, the Grand Rapids Press

Grand Rapids Press

The Grand Rapids Press is a daily newspaper published in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is the largest of the eight Booth newspapers. It is sold for $.75 daily and $2.00 on Sunday.AccuWeather provides weather content to the Grand Rapids Press....

in Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, the Times Union from Albany

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

, and The Guardian

The Guardian

The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. KSBY Action 6 News did a story about the alleyway and broadcast it nationally. TV crews filmed the alley for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under the Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night....

, That's Incredible!

That's Incredible!

That's Incredible! was an American reality television show that aired on the ABC television network from 1980 to 1984.-Synopsis:In the tradition of You Asked For It, Ripley's Believe It or Not! and Real People, the show featured people performing stunts and reenactments of allegedly paranormal events...

, Real People

Real People

Real People is an NBC reality television series that aired from 1979 to 1984, on Wednesday and then Sunday nights. Its initial episodes aired live in the Eastern and Central Time Zones.-Synopsis:...

, and on PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

. MTV

MTV

MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

 featured Bubblegum Alley in the show Call to Greatness

Call to Greatness

Call to Greatness was a reality television show on MTV. The show aired during 2006 and ran for five episodes. In the show, a group of five men, known as "Team C2G", travelled around the United States trying to beat world records...

. The crew picked Bubblegum Alley to film the episode on breaking the world record for largest bubblegum bubble. It featured record holder Susan Montgumery Williams, or as she's known in the business, "Chewsy Suzy", and at the end of the show a graphic was shown that said that while she was there she blew a 24 inches (609.6 mm) bubble, which wasn't shown on TV (Her record bubble, which was blown on national TV in 1996, was 23 inches). ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

’s Ripley’s Believe It or Not also aired a story on October 14, 1984 about the alley. It was also featured on an episode of The Girls Next Door

The Girls Next Door

The Girls Next Door, also known as The Girls of the Playboy Mansion, is an American reality television series broadcast on the E! cable television network...

on E!

E!

E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...

 and mentioned in an episode of "United States of Tara".

Books

In chapter seventeen of the novel Mr. Monk On the Road by Lee Goldberg, Bubblegum Alley is mentioned, described, and forms the setting for Monk

Monk (TV series)

Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...

's discovery of a dead body.

Traditions and Myths

An alleyway full of over-chewed, 40-year-old bubble gum sounds unpleasant, but contrary to that belief many have started their own gummy traditions to keep this alleyway a must-see. One obvious tradition is the different fraternity and sorority letters. Another tradition that might confuse someone unfamiliar with the area is the variety of numbers lining the walls. To most people they may seem like a random assortment of numbers, but to any Cal Poly student these numbers represent Week of Welcome (or WOW) numbers. WOW is the first week before school starts in the fall for incoming freshmen; each WOW group has a different number and the leaders of each group take their students to Bubblegum Alley to leave their first mark on the city. Some just stick their gum on the overloaded walls while others get creative and leave their actual group number.

Controversy

In San Luis Obispo, college students, local politicians, tourists, civic leaders, store owners, and the town historian all have one thing in common—an opinion concerning Bubblegum Alley. Agreement whether these gum-covered walls should remain a part of quaint downtown San Luis Obispo has not been reached since its founding. While the town historian and local politicians consider this alley to be an “eyesore”, the Chamber of Commerce lists it as a “special attraction”..

While some bubble with joy at the unique spectacle, others consider this spot to be a giant cleaning project that a select few are getting stuck with. The Telegram Tribune reported that Bill Hales, a local pub owner, pays for the alley to be steam-cleaned once a month. Jim Kilbride’s business, Natural Selection, is right beside the alley and he has to scrape chewed wads of gum off of his windows every Monday morning. Hales and Kilbride agree that it is not the gooey gum that bothers them, but rather the tendency of people to use the alley as a public restroom. There have been talks about lighting it, gating it, creating an entrance, and handing out hoses. So far, hoses have been handed out to store owners.

Store owners’ complaints concerning upkeep are countered by the argument that it increases foot traffic and business. Debrorah Holley, administrator of the Downtown Business Improvement Association, admits that despite the obvious problems it causes, it is nonetheless a landmark . This one-of-a-kind spectacle attracts tourists to the downtown, in such large numbers that there used to be a local radio station DJ that led people on bimonthly tours of the “Gum Alley gallery”. Gumball machines can be found in most stores nearby, benefiting from the alley's popularity, and most downtown businesses value the attraction.

The strength of the alley has been tested by angry store owners, ecologically minded locals, scrapers, and even fire hoses. In 1985, firemen hosed down the sticky walls, but the gum-chewers proved to be more determined than ever. Within the month fresh wads appeared on the wall and Bubblegum Alley once again prevailed. The red bricks that lie beneath this unusual mask have been hidden since the 1960s.

As art

Some people in San Luis Obispo consider the wall a form of art, and sticking gum on a wall is to many locals a harmless act. One may see various brands of gum, including Bazooka

Bazooka (chewing gum)

Bazooka is a brand of bubble gum.It was first marketed shortly after World War II in the U.S. by the Topps Company of Brooklyn, New York. The gum was packaged in a patriotic red, white, and blue color scheme. Beginning in 1953, Topps changed the packaging to include small comic strips with the gum,...

, Winter Fresh, Doublemint and Orbit, lining the walls in an array of shapes, words and questionable designs. There are faces and flowers, fraternity and sorority letters, and "I love SLO" spelled out in different colors and sizes. A closer glance at the gum-infested wall will expose an abundance of objects, such as pennies and dimes, sticking out of the wall as eyes for gum faces. There are gum wrappers placed strategically to add to the designs, and occasionally someone will hang a condom from the wall in hopes to disgust passers-by, but mostly the alley is appropriate for all ages and encourages everyone’s creative contributions.

Professional artists
The Alley doesn’t only attract amateurs to paste their gum artwork on the wall; it has also inspired professional artists such as Matthew Hoffman. On the east end of the alley, up high on the north-facing wall, a giant self-portrait of Hoffman titled "Projectbubble Gum" is created entirely with bubble gum. The picture of the artist blowing a bubble required a tremendous amount of gum, which he was able to get with the help of the community. His theory is, "if an individual participates in their community they will earn an invested interest in their community. The community chewed the bubblegum, and many individuals [felt] as though they were a part of its creation. This instills a sense of stewardship in one’s community".Even the robotics Team 1717, featured in the book The New Cool (book)

The New Cool (book)

The New Cool: A Visionary Teacher, His FIRST Robotics Team, and the Ultimate Battle of Smarts is a 2011 non-fiction narrative book by American writer Neal Bascomb. It follows four FIRST Robotics Competition teams through the course of the 2009 season...

, is depicted in neon blue gum.

"Projectbubble Gum" is the largest piece in the Alley and is higher up than most to ensure its survival.

Poets
Not only have gum-chewing artists been motivated by the alley; poets have been inspired by the gum walls as well. One Arroyo Grande poet who wishes to be known as “M” writes in defense of the Gum Alley. His poem was published in Don Pieper’s article "An Ode to Gum Alley":

We write our epitaphs on walls with gum,

And though it may be meaningless to some,

We have a symbol of our gummy youth,

Whose walls may not tell some glorious truth,

But eloquently speak of better times,

Of cruising, shopping sprees, and nursery rhymes.

If gum is all you see upon our wall,

Your mind is closed, your spirit shrunk and small,

Though memories of youth may never last,

Gum Alley is our present to our past.”

-“M”, Arroyo Grande