Bubblegum Alley Wall – San Luis Obispo, California

Featured in all sort of pop culture paraphernalia, including a Weird Al song, the Bubblegum Alley in San Luis Obispo California is said to be the most famous bubblegum alley in the world (yes, more famous than the one in Seattle!) With its central coast location, visiting the Bubblegum Wall is a must-see on your trip down the Pacific Coast Highway. Here’s how to visit bubblegum alley in San Luis Obispo, California.

Bubblegum Alley is a 15-foot high, 70 foot long alleyway in downtown San Luis Obispo and is said to have started in the 1950s, as either a rivalry between the SLO high school and Cal Poly tech students or a high school graduation prank.

In the 1970s, nearby shop owners started getting grouchy about this wall. They complained to city officials about the bubblegum wall being unsanitary and gross, so the alleyway was cleaned twice since the ’70s, but each time, the bubblegum came back. The city tried one more time to pass an ordinance in 1996 to clean this shit up, but it didn’t pass.

So city officials said, “fuck it” and just let the alley succumb to its bubblegum fate. And it hasn’t had a cleaning since. Maybe they thought that the since wall brings in tourists, and the tourists then spend money in the town, that it was worth keeping the wall?

Because people are always sticking new wads of chewing gum on the wall, every time you come here, the wall will look different. Sometimes, artwork is created with the gum, other times, it’s just colorful. During our visit, we didn’t see any interesting artwork – maybe you’ll have better luck.

Bubblegum Alley Wall – Location and Details

Location:

Bubblegum Alley is located between 733 and 734 Higuera Street downtown. My sister and I had a little trouble finding it so you might want to have your Google maps up and running to help you located this.

Time Commitment: This spot won’t take long to visit – and despite this being a very famous tourist attraction, no one was around when we were there. What may take longer is that once you start looking for the Bubblegum Alley on foot, you’ll discover how many cute shops and restaurants there are in SLO and want to stay longer!

If you forgot to bring your gum, there’s a gumball machine just a few feet away from the alleyway, so you can still have the chance to leave your mark on the wall.

Have you visited this bubblegum wall? What did you think?

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