SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsDowntown SLO's Bubblegum AlleyThursday, December 02, 2004 If you do a search for gum OR bubblegum OR gumball "San Luis Obispo" at Google, you'd get the impression San Luis Obispo's Bubblegum Alley is SLO's top attraction. Seems we find a new post every couple weeks about SLO's Bubblegum Alley in a blog entry by someone who just passed through town. Here's the latest by Ben Padilla.
The gum started appearing on the walls in the late 1950's or 1960. People complained but the gum kept on coming. There are a few shops that have gumball machines on the sidewalk so if you want to add to the wall, chew and stick! You can find Bubblegum Alley on Higuera St. between Broad and Garden. Locallinks.com is kind enough to provide a map. In our quest for gum bloggers, we ran across "A really, truly, repulsive tour" of Bubblegum Alley by Ira Hirsh, pop culture horrorist and an official article by John Johnson from the LA Times, which appeared in the SF Chronicle. City Stickers - San Luis Obispo's "bubble gum alley" disgusts and delights visitors, November 6, 2000. San Luis Obispo -- As cultural monuments go, Bubble Gum Alley has proved its staying power. Like a wad of Bazooka Joe stubbornly stuck on a shoe, it has hung on for almost 50 years. "On a regular day, we get about 300 to 400 visitors," said James Anderson, the assistant director of information services for the Chamber of Commerce in this central California city. There's always "a handful" who say their visit wouldn't be complete without a trip down Bubble Gum Alley. And proving that bad manners is a universal language, many of those searching out the alley in this conservative community are visitors from abroad. The word most associated with the alley, in fact, means the same thing no matter what country you're in. "It's kind of disgusting," said Lauren Tobin, 21, as she scanned the gum-covered walls. Taking a shot at the local California Polytechnic State University students, the biology student from the University of California at Davis said, "It probably reflects the student population." As the name implies, Bubble Gum Alley is an alley in which the facing walls of two downtown commercial buildings are encrusted with gum. It doesn't resemble anything but what it is, tens of thousands of wads of multicolored gum squished one on top of another in a masticated mosaic 70 feet long and 15 feet high. At the top, the gobs have been blackened by age and weather. Some have left messages in mucilage: "Jesus Loves," "Porky" and the sweetly simple "Hi." Others have used the brick facades as canvases for their artwork. There are flowers, an American flag and several impressionistic figures that may or may not be human forms. Two cigarette butts protrude from one gummy mass, embracing at once the two oral habits that mothers warned generations of children against. The city's historical society says the genesis is sketchy, but the alley was created sometime in the 1950s. High school students started putting gum on the walls, Cal Poly students soon followed suit, and by the '60s the alley had become part of the local color. Over the years, San Luis Obispo's attitude toward Bubble Gum Alley has vacillated. On one hand, the Chamber of Commerce lists it as a "special attraction," and the city has posted a sign on the site. On the other, residents have periodically united in anti-gum crusades. "One year, the Fire Department hosed it down," said Deborah Holley, administrator of the Downtown Association. Instead of just falling down and washing away, thousands of pieces of old gum shot high into the sky. That day, people fled a potential gum-storm, she said. Holley entered Gum Alley in a national civic competition for unusual community monuments a few years back. A banquet room in Portland, Ore., was filled with representatives of hundreds of cities when pictures of the alley flashed on the screen. "Eeew, gross!" the audience said in unison. "It's interesting to watch tourists," said Holley. "There's this attraction-repulsion thing." You could see it in the face of Ryan Norton, 24, of Los Angeles. He and his 23-year-old wife, Angela, were in town on a recent afternoon celebrating their first anniversary. To him, the alley was equal parts fun and disgusting; his wife pronounced it "great. I don't know if it's an expression of art. Maybe this will keep people from throwing their gum on the ground." Ryan Norton overcame his repulsion and decided the couple should leave their own mark on the wall. And so, just as they plighted their troth, they merged their gum. Stooping, he etched their initials in the wad with a piece of broken glass he found on the asphalt. "We'll come back every year and put our gum here," he proclaimed. As anniversary traditions go, it might not be the most elevating, or hygienic. But the walls of gum have already outlasted many marriages. City Stickers - San Luis Obispo's "bubble gum alley" disgusts and delights visitors - SF Chronicle A really, truly, repulsive tour of Bubblegum Alley - Ira Hirsh Read More
|
|
