‘Disgusting’ or ‘sweet,’ Bubblegum Alley is one of SLO’s most popular spots. How did it start?

Every town has its own traditions, but San Luis Obispo found one that really sticks: Fixing a wad of chewed-up gum onto the walls of Bubblegum Alley.

Some call it art, others call it gross — but most can’t resist adding their own gum to the wall at least once during their time in San Luis Obispo.

Mission College Prep High School sophomore Elia VanderHorst remembers visiting Bubblegum Alley for the first time with her dad, a Cal Poly alumnus.

“We went to Rocket Fizz, the classic little candy shop on the corner, and got some gum and stuck it on there,” VanderHorst said. “I think it’s pretty gross, but for some reason it’s famous in SLO.”

Bubblegum Alley, located off Higuera Street, is wedged between Broad and Garden streets.

Decades-old gum caked with dirt and gunk provide a canvas for newer wads, including chewed up splotches of pink bubblegum and bright green spearmint hearts.

Some use the wall as a sort of billboard, like a tattoo artist who plastered her business card to the wall.

Teenagers, on the other hand, use the space for romantic gestures. Mint green, pastel purple and cherry red initials line the walls — often surrounded by bubblegum hearts.

Who started Bubblegum Alley?

Before Bubblegum Alley became a tourist attraction, it was a prank started by high school students, according to the History Center of San Luis Obispo County’s archives.

High school seniors started sticking their gum to the wall after the prom, and Cal Poly students soon joined in the fun, San Luis Obispo resident Helen Davis told the Historical Center.

A 1997 edition of New Times speculated that the tradition started in the late 1950s, and by 1962, gum covered much of the alley. The city cleaned up the alleyway twice during the ‘60s, but the gum kept coming back, New Times reported.

Soon, folks from across the county participated in the tradition, including visiting football teams that left gum on the wall before each game, according to a 1979 Los Angeles Times article housed in the History Center’s archives.

“People go every day and stick gum on that wall,” Cal Poly senior Roberta Byrnes told the Los Angeles Times in that article. “There’s a local saying that if you’re chewing gum and walk by the ‘Gum Alley,’ it’s bad luck if you don’t put it on the wall.”

Telegram-Tribune photos from 1976 show detailed gum designs on the wall: “USC!” written in gum may indicate a friendly rivalry, while “21” could commemorate a birthday bar crawl. Those photos are also kept in the SLO County History Center.

Legend even says that comedian “Weird Al” Yankovic sat in the alley for inspiration.

Bubblegum Alley’s influence only grew over the decades.

A 1992 cover of Mustang Daily shows a student reading the paper in front of the gum wall. According to the Historical Center’s records, students would stick gum on the wall during Cal Poly’s Week of Welcome orientation program in the ‘90s.

Still, nearby downtown businesses continued to grapple with the gross factor of the gum wall. According to a 1996 Telegram-Tribune article, the Frog and Peach Pub owner paid to steam-clean the alley once a month.

Bubblegum Alley lives on

Throughout the years, the tradition has remained strong.

A family of three strolled into Bubblegum Alley on Thursday, carrying balloon animals from the downtown Farmers Market.

Jennavive Hinojosa, 7, stepped on a blotch of bubblegum and announced that the wall is “disgusting.”

Four-year-old Arianna Santiago had a different take on the wall.

“Bubblegum is yummy!” she said.

“My little one wants to touch it all the time but I tell her not to,” Orcutt resident Leslie Rico said with a laugh. “We always try to look at the letters and the words that people put. Some people put hearts and little artistic designs with the gum.”

Bubblegum Alley is beautiful in its own way, Rico said.

“I think it’s art,” Rico said. “It’s colorful, and different gum has different sizes, and it just looks like a mural. It’s never ending, because there’s old and newer gum that pops more.”

Brooke Morris is a senior at Auburn University and took an internship in San Luis Obispo for the summer. She compared Bubblegum Alley to the Love Lock Bridge in Paris — just a bit less romantic.

“It’s gross,” she said. But still, “it’s community art, it’s like graffiti but with gum,” she added.

Though Dallas resident Taylor Morris wasn’t stoked about germs floating around the alley, she thought the gum wall had a certain appeal.

“I think stuff like this is sweet, stuff that brings people together,” she said. “Even if it’s absolutely disgusting, I think it’s cute that people come here with, like, their significant other and families. It builds memories.”

That’s SLO Weird

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