Mounds of amalgamated goo are melting off Pike Place Market’s famous gum wall in Seattle.
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The gum getting a scrubbing spans about 8 feet high and over 54 feet wide, with about 150 pieces on every brick, KING5 reported.
“We expect the gum to be back as soon as we’re done cleaning”, Crawford said.
The infamous Gum Wall was started in an alley in 1991 by patrons of a nearby theatre.
Seattle theater-goers have slapped their last piece of Trident on a wall with the moniker of the “second-germiest” tourist spot in the world. The cleaning began Tuesday and is expected to take three days.
“It´s an icon. It´s history”.
Co-host Tom Curley, a frequenter of the gum wall, sees no point. “But it also draws rats”. They chose steam over pressure-washing to conserve the historic market’s brick walls.
The two-man contracted cleaning crew wore special suits and masks to protect them from the tutti-frutti flavoured gasses released into the air.
Another user Tweeted: “The gum wall in Seattle was washed away and it deeply saddens me”.
According to local reports, the thorough steam-clean should take up the remainder of the week.
By Crawford’s rough calculation, there are about 2,200 pounds of gum on the walls. “We’ll find out at the end of the week how right my guesstimate really is”, she said.
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“I have to admit, after 20 years, I’m feeling a little icky, sticky and in desperate need of a good scrubbing to make me sparkle again”, said the Gum Wall.
