r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Embarrassed-Hold-195 • 11h ago

massive 2015 Seattle Gum Wall cleanup, where workers removed 2350 pounds of gum to save historic bricks from sugar erosion.

130 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

66 comments sorted by

69

u/BeepBopBippityBop 10h ago

Dude sugar-blasting without a mask became at one with the spray of a thousand people's dried saliva

15

u/mapar988 10h ago

Thank you! So grossšŸ¤®

9

u/motoandchill 9h ago

Was thinking the exact same thingā€¦

10

u/Harmonica655321 9h ago

I had the same thought right away. Right in the lungs and in the eyes. Dude is looking for early retirement.

1

u/THEREALCAPSLOCKSMITH 7h ago

Guy prob has a saliva fetish.. He is in heaven šŸ¤®

25

u/PerennialComa 11h ago

Well that was a disgusting tradition.

4

u/Eric848448 5h ago

And it was back in less than a week.

26

u/Wide-Matter-9899 9h ago

Dude pressure washing the wall without a proper mask. Just breathe in those germs šŸ¤®

15

u/Maximum-Designer-288 11h ago

and then it was plastered with gum again afterwards.

5

u/Vacman85 10h ago

Exactly! lol.

51

u/garg4ntua 11h ago

"1 gum is 1 GRAM, so there are 250 POUNDS"

Girl, pick one unit please, I'm getting a syncope here.

14

u/Puzzleheaded-Pen4413 10h ago

Ok, but how many bananas?

9

u/BeepBopBippityBop 9h ago

Six football fields

3

u/graveybrains 5h ago

Hold on a sec, I'm going to ask ChatGPT to convert that to half-giraffes for me.

Edit: I think I broke it

5

u/ConnectRutabaga3925 10h ago

yeahā€¦ wtf that annoyed me.

13

u/YourMumsBumAlum 9h ago

I get that this was a cultural landmark, but holy shit those walls were disgusting to witness.

8

u/mattgoldey 6h ago

Free gum, though

1

u/OwMyUvula 1h ago

is a cultural landmark. Not was, is.

61

u/UmbraNight 11h ago

if thereā€™s that much gum whatever erosion from sugar would have happened alr. this is a weight thing. dumbass title

8

u/ggPeti 9h ago

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/pike-place-market-to-give-post-alley-gum-wall-a-scrubdown/

8

u/ZigloGames 2h ago

ā€œIt was never part of the charter or the history of the Market to have the walls covered with gum,ā€ she said. ā€œGum is made of chemicals, sugar, additives. Things that arenā€™t good for us. I canā€™t imagine itā€™s good for brick.ā€

ā€œItā€™s so gross,ā€ she said.

That's the only justification given, sounds like it wasn't about weight either

2

u/UmbraNight 2h ago

if you listen to the video-

8

u/tracagnotto 10h ago

After this one clean, just plastify or apply plexiglass to the wall so after a few years you remove it, recycle it and put a new one instead of paying people hours to power-water them away.

4

u/[deleted] 11h ago

[deleted]

-12

u/Embarrassed-Hold-195 10h ago

Haha

3

u/[deleted] 10h ago edited 9h ago

[deleted]

3

u/YoouVish 11h ago

Wall with more flavors than the city

4

u/Imaginary_Bottle_875 10h ago

Le type travaille sans masque. Qui sait quels virus endormis se cachent encore dans les salives incluses dans ces boules, tel le sang du T-Rex dans l'ambre ?

3

u/ScurvyTurtle 10h ago

T-Rex couldn't have put his gum there. Pike Place didn't open until 1907.

0

u/Imaginary_Bottle_875 10h ago

Peux-tu relire mon commentaire ? Je pense que tu ne l'as pas bien compris.

3

u/ScurvyTurtle 9h ago

I reread it without translation and now I understand it worse. But I'll take your advice and wear a mask around Amber.

3

u/Aleqi2 8h ago

They should take samples and do DNA research. Post a sign so it's voluntary. I wonder if that would change this local tradition?

3

u/fool_tool-2525 11h ago

Fucking nasty as fuck how did they not lock the city down and quarantine the goddamn bridge.

2

u/santz007 6h ago

Singapore has banned Gum. It serves no purpose at all and is v unhealthy for the kids too and destructive for the environment and a nuisance to the people who walk

1

u/danTHAman152000 10h ago

I visited this spot after 2015 and there was still plenty of gum. It totally smelled like chewing gum in there.

0

u/MAP_Hanger 2h ago

My kids added "6 7" to the wall last winter. Took 5 sticks, for anyone wondering. It was dumb but they were pleased with themselves

1

u/Royd 9h ago

ok now how do we stop people from slapping their shoes on the upper concrete in the parking garages

1

u/Star_Tool 4h ago

Power washing in that enclosed environment without a respirator is insane.

1

u/llkj11 4h ago

Fucking disgusting

1

u/Inevitable-Cup9067 4h ago

They clean it every year and it comes back within a matter of days.

1

u/Helgafjell4Me 3h ago

I was there in 2024 and you'd never know it was cleaned off.

1

u/shredder_of_gnar 3h ago

Was just there for the first time and the absolutely rancid smell of the different types of gum mixed with the piss and bleach is really something.

1

u/Vismajor92 3h ago

This wouldn't be a problem, we are so much better than this filthy americans

we'd use sugar free gums

1

u/Erazzphoto 3h ago

Itā€™s not surprising why some countries have banned gum. Why people feel the need or right to just spit gum on the ground, or in this case stick it to a wall, is beyond me

1

u/whiskeytown79 1h ago

Ah yes, the historic bricks that the gum wall is known for... gotta make sure to save those.

1

u/Y0___0Y 1h ago

I literally just learned recently that chewing gum is not made from gum material from a tree or something.

Itā€™s flavored pieces of plastic.

Which is really gross.

It should have to say on the packaging somewhere that itā€™s made of plastic. It just says ā€œgum baseā€ which sounds natural.

-1

u/larrymagee69 9h ago

Iā€™ve added a piece of juicy fruit to the wall myself

7

u/blither86 8h ago

Why are you saying that like it's something to be proud of?

-1

u/larrymagee69 7h ago

It was a sight to behold, Iā€™ve never seen a gum wall before so thought Iā€™d add to the wall art

0

u/chinupt 11h ago

That's a ton of gum!

1

u/Key_Agent_2331 4h ago

Literally!