Bubblegum Alley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bubblegum Alley

Bubblegum Alley ( English for chewing gum alley ) is a narrow alley in the city of San Luis Obispo in the state of California in the United States . The alley has been decorated with used chewing gum for decades. The walls on either side of the path where the chewing gum is stuck are part of the 700 block on Higuera Street. The pasted areas are around 21 meters long and 4.6 meters high. There are chewing gum machines at the ends of the alley.

history

Since around the 1960s, the walls on both sides of the alley have been covered with chewed gum. How this tradition came about is not clear; most of the time, it is believed that local high school kids started taping the walls. In the beginning the city tried to take action against the pollution of the walls, now the sidewalk is only cleaned once a week. A one-time attempt by the fire brigade to remove the chewing gum from the walls with water spray had unexpected consequences: The chewing gum that had been torn off was thrown high into the air and then rained down on passers-by in a wider area.

Ira Hirsch compared Bubblegum Alley to trying to produce art in Hell . In Gareth Sibson's novel Single with Failure , the alley is compared to a work of art by Jackson Pollock ; Bubblegum Alley is listed in a travel guide as "probably the most unsavory street in California".

Matthew Hoffman's self-portrait

Still, Bubblegum Alley has not only become a tourist attraction that is visited by 300 to 400 people every day, but is now also used as a backdrop for films and music videos. For example, she was featured in the MTV show Call to Greatness . Matthew Hoffman - a collage artist  - created a self-portrait out of chewing gum. On Halloween 2012, Rich Ferguson, an illusionist, appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show . Ferguson had shot a prank video on Bubblegum Alley in which he appeared to lose his head while sneezing and then sat up again. The film was viewed more than 6,750,000 times on YouTube .

Meanwhile, the custom of sticking chewing gum on certain walls has also found imitators outside of San Luis Obispo: In Seattle , Washington , the Gum Wall is also a tourist attraction.

Web links

Commons : Bubblegum Alley  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Moon Handbooks: California Road Trip , p. 496
  2. ^ Jan Friedman: Eccentric California (Bradt Travel Guide Eccentric California). New York 2005, ISBN 978-1-84162-126-5 , p. 102
  3. ^ A b John Johnson, Bubble Gum Alley 'Disgusts and Delights Visitors , in: Los Angeles Times, October 10, 2000
  4. ↑ Eric Peterson: Ramble: A Field Guide to the USA Fulcrum inc, 2006, ISBN 978-1-933108-08-7 , p. 4
  5. ^ Gareth Sibson: Single with Failure. Author House, 2005, ISBN 978-1-4208-8318-3 , p. 189.
  6. ↑ Manfred Braunger: DUMONT Correct Travel California. Dumont, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-7701-7665-6 , p. 274.
  7. ↑ Magician's head falls off in Bubble Gum Alley , in: Paso Robles Daily News, October 30, 2012
  8. ↑ Excerpts from the Tonight Show and Ferguson's film

Coordinates: 35 ° 16 ′ 44.52 "  N , 120 ° 39 ′ 49.59"  W.