Bubblegum Alley

San Luis Obispo’s Bubblegum Alley has been nominated by a travel website to be the unofficial 8th Wonder of the World.

The San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commercedescribes the alley as the city’s most popular unofficial landmark, attracting hundreds of thousands of people a year who leave their mark with chewed gum on the walls.

The bubblegum-festooned alley on Higuera Street in downtown San Luis Obispo, nominated by VirtualTourist.com, has gained a lot of interest and media attention over the years. The Chamber of Commerce estimates that more than 1.7 million pieces of gum now adorn the 70-foot-long alleyway off Higuera Street.

Bubblegum Alley faces some stiff competition from more than 300 other sites worldwide that have been nominated for the 8th Wonder of the World title.

These include the Monarch Butterfly Grove in Pismo Beach, Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation in Virginia and the Matterhorn mountain in the Swiss Alps.

Part of the TripAdvisor Media Group, VirtualTourist.com is a worldwide travel community where travelers and locals share travel advice and experiences. The site has more than 1.3 million members talking about more than 65,000 destinations.

To help Bubblegum Alley win the 8th Wonder of the World title, people can vote online from June 3 through Sept. 30. Individuals can vote once per day.