The Official Site of Rebecca Ross Klosinski

Bubblegum Alley

The San Luis Obispo Visitor's Guide, 2010

It’s a warm spring day and you’re walking along a bustling downtown sidewalk when something catches your attention.  An aroma, a scent, a fragrance of some kind.  What is that unidentifiable odor?  You pause, ponder, but can’t quite put your finger on it.  In fact, you’re not even certain if it is a good smell or a bad smell.  You decide to investigate.

You are, of course, in San Luis Obispo, California strolling down Higuera Street.  You have probably just seen a movie, had lunch, and are now carrying several shopping bags.  As you approach 733 Higuera you catch your first glimpse.  You have just identified the source.  It’s a wall.  It’s a wall covered in… covered in gum?  That’s right, you have just stumbled upon Bubblegum Alley.

Bubblegum Alley rivals only The Madonna Inn as the most unusual (and popular) attraction in all of San Luis Obispo.  A narrow alley (be careful not to brush up against the sides as you pass through) 15 feet high and 70 feet long that is plastered from bottom to nearly top with every color and variety of chewing gum known to man. 

There is some disagreement as to how this unassuming byway between two downtown shops came to be covered in gum.  Some say it started just after WWII as a San Luis Obispo High graduating class event.  Some say it started as a rivalry between the local high school and Cal Poly University in the 1950’s.  Oh what a simpler time it was, when rivalries were settled by Bubblicious.

Whatever the origins, one thing is for sure.  This alley of gum represents tradition - much to the delight and disgust of the local citizenry.  There are those who see Bubblegum Alley as a dump for the ABC (Already Been Chewed) and think of it as a stain on the clean streets of SLO.  But then there are those in the majority who see the wall for what it is – a fun, silly, and yes, even gross tradition that draws attention from people all over the world.  Bubblegum Alley has appeared on several nationwide television programs, is seen as a good luck charm for area sports teams, and is a popular place to demonstrate love and affection to ones mate, similar to carving your initials in a tree.

The walls of the alley act as a canvas, an outlet for creative expression.  Many ponder at how some of the higher wads could have possibly been stuck where they are, and only the bravest of artists know for sure.  Just take a look at the giant self-portrait high in one corner of a man in sunglasses blowing a giant bubble.  A lot of people had to chew a lot of gum to make that larger than life public art piece.

There are attractions that one must see to believe.  Bubblegum Alley is definitely one of those.  When you visit the walls, you may gasp.  You may laugh.  You will undoubtedly begin to point here and there as you travel up and down the alley.  You will find hearts.  You will find peace signs and shiny wrappers.  You will find pennies and pebbles stuck in the goo.  You will take the piece of gum that you are chewing out of your mouth and find the perfect spot.  You will become a part of this most unusually awesome tradition, adding to the layers of time, and you may even come back to do it all over again.