ABC Gum Wall of Patchogue

OMG INCREDIBLE! Ok, well, not really, but it was random and glad that it was there. Patchogue is an interesting place, and this is random enough to have piqued my interest. No special trips out there please, but if you’re in town, check it out!

ABC Gum Wall was also recommended to me by Robert L. It’s something you can’t miss. My friend’s Husband decided to check it out while we were finished with dinner at Mangia Mangia since the address showed it was just a few doors down. A couple of minutes later he came back and couldn’t find it. So, off we go in search for this Gum Wall that the kids were so anxiously awaiting to see. Me too but I definitely wasn’t going to admit THAT!
We go into the Patchogue Theatre of Performing Arts which was directly next to the restaurant. We spotted a sign about the Gum Wall outside of this Theatre but nobody there seemed to know what I was talking about. I asked three people and they never heard of it. I went outside again to read this poster making sure it did exist and it obviously did. Well, two other children at this point caught on to what we were trying to find and somehow convinced their parents to find it too because now the thirteen of us were walking up and down the street looking for this stupid wall. At last, we found it. A little alley right next to the Congregational Church.
Very big problem, we forgot the gum. These two stranger children and their parents were now running towards this Gum Wall and our kids are now starting to get hysterical. Thank G-​d my friend’s Husband spotted a convenience store across the street and we are now all starting to run towards this wall, our kids screaming with excitement. We were actually standing there for a while deciding what shape to make our piece of «Art». Our kids were so amazed that we were actually letting them do this and even more amazed when they watched us doing the same thing! It was very interesting to see what everyone was going to put up there and of course my perverted friend had to make hers stand out. It was a lot of fun and a chance to be a kid again if only for 5 minutes.
Again, a very big «Thank You» to Robert L. and a «Must See», if anything, just to view my Friend’s «creation» (if it’s still up there when you go)!!

This fine example of public art and literal «Local Flavor» predates the recent restoration of the Patchogue Theatre for Performing Arts, and to present, its tradition has survived the Village’s gentrification process, despite periodically having been scraped off. It is located in the alley to the east of the Theatre, which runs between the Municipal parking lot and East Main Street. The «Already Been Chewed» Gum Wall (see pics) is an ever-​changing and growing artistic work that both demands attention and inspires community participation and collaboration.