SLO County News BlogGolf, Wine, Real Estate, Business & Travel NewsSLO's Bubble Gum Alley RetrofitMonday, July 25, 2005 Half of San Luis Obispo's famed Bubble Gum Alley will be torn down and rebuilt if a property owner's proposal is approved.The building between the alley and Mother's Tavern is owned by John Hira, and it needs seismic retrofitting. "It costs as much to create a new building, with more space, as it does to fix what is there," said lead architect Tom Brajkovich. A three-story structure would replace the current single-story building that creates the alley where people have been leaving their chewed gum since the 1960s. "The alley is certainly a piece of history," Brajkovich said. But over the years, he added, moisture from the bubble gum seeped into the bricks, where it molded. "It has gotten pretty gross," he said. But gross is good according to some visitors, including Debii Otto of San Francisco, who put pink gum on the wall in the shape of her last name Saturday afternoon. City leaders recognize that changing the alley is a sticky subject. "It is one of those things that people really love," said Claire Clark, the city's seismic coordinator. While the developer plans to let gum chewers recreate part of history on the new building's side, Brajkovich said reviving the tradition of downtown living is even more exciting. The building includes three housing units, tentatively designed to sell as condos. "When I first moved here 36 years ago a lot of people lived downtown," Brajkovich said. "Over the years all of the places where my friends and I lived have become office space. Now, we are going back to a residential downtown." The three condos include balconies and are envisioned on the building's top floor. The second floor is slated to become offices while the first would continue to house retail. "I am excited that someone is going to be able to live downtown and work downtown, maybe even do both," Brajkovich said. Read entire article at: A Project to chew over The Tribune, Leslie Griffy To see more of The Tribune, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to www.sanluisobispo.com. (c) 2005, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. Read More
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