A gross anecdote to chew over

Seattle scores high on another list of top places to visit.
Seattle scores high on another list of top places to visit.

KOMO has a story, with graphic photos, of the gum wall at the Pike Place Market outside the Market Theater. Calling it a "landmark" (and you thought the Ballard Denny's was a stretch!), the story goes on to say that TripAdvisor has compiled a list of the world's "germiest" attractions, from the "copiously-kissed Blarney Stone to Oscar Wilde's tomb (covered with lipstick prints, who knew?) to Seattle's infamous wall of chewed cud. The germy factor seems a stretch, but....

I have to share a gum wall anecdote because I've never had another occasion to use it. I suppose I could wait until I write "Top Ten Moments in Seattle that Made Me Want to Barf," but that's one of those never-get-around-to-it projects. When I was at Seattle Weekly, our offices were downhill from the Market on Post Alley and I used to wander uphill in search of lunch at the Market during the off season (now reduced to January thru February). One day, strolling along, I noticed a man ahead of me. He was a businessman, dressed in a nice suit, his back was to me as we were walking the same direction. When he got to the gum wall, he seemed a little furtive. He stopped, looked it over, then reached out and plucked a wad of chewed gum off, popped it into his mouth, then took off at a brisk pace.

My appetite for lunch eventually came back, but it took awhile.

  

Please support independent local news for all.

We rely on donations from readers like you to sustain Crosscut's in-depth reporting on issues critical to the PNW.

Donate

About the Authors & Contributors

Knute Berger

Knute Berger

Knute “Mossback” Berger is an editor-at-large at Cascade PBS.