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L.A. GUIDE: NO LAST CALL!
How, where – but not why – about this unusual event held each July. |
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The Mooning of the Amtrak!
UPDATE – It was fun and calm. The 2009 event had an estimated 4,000 people and there was no problem and no arrests. See, mooners can have a good time and behave themselves. So city officials, leave it alone!
Whomever can be credited with creating crazy spectacles such as the Mooning of the Amtrak – is this even its formal name? – is to be commended. Celebrated. Cheered. At the very least, be given some type of Party Plaque. (Legend has it a man by the name of K.T. Smith deserves the honor.)
For the Mooning of the Amtrak, an annual event in which hundreds of people drop their drawers to passing trains, is one unusual adventure. Held on the second Saturday of July in Laguna Nigel, CA, it's an all-day and evening adventure that attracts thousands of modern-day moonies. They line the sides of a two-lane street, fill the parking lot of the adjacent business park and go in and out of a host bar – of course, a bar has to be involved in the mix somewhere – then race out to line up against a fence when one of the Amtrak or Metrolink trains comes down the line. "Here comes a train" someone calls out and people turn their rears to the well, rear. As the train passes, the shorts go down and the riders are mooned. And don't think those riders and even train workers don't enjoy it; some take the train specifically on that day to take their "crack" at the show. This even continues past dark where flashlights and lanterns provide light. Talk about a full moon!
The suspected culprit of this affair is the Mug's Away Saloon, though it pretends merely to be an innocent bystander. The Mugs Away – a dive bar if ever there was one – is the centerpiece of activity. Dark, sweaty and stained, it looks misplaced in otherwise pristine Orange County. Until one considers the crowd. Newport Beach it isn't. The Mug's Away – and the entire event, as well – looks more like the infield of a NASCAR race rather than something near the Southern California coast. Or Bike Week in Daytona. People fly flags from large poles from their motorhomes. They arrive on Harleys, wear black leather jackets and jeans, sport tattoos and beer bellies and enthusiastically gather around girls – not all of whom are exactly fit and fantastic – in hopes they will see some skin.
It's a rough 'em-and-cuff-'em looking group but realizing what a great thing they have going, they are as well-behaved as grade school nerds. They're all smiling, swilling their drinks and, of course, mooning. Only occasionally does a sheriff cruise by, and then only to monitor the cars parked on the side of the road. Mooners wander in and out of the Mug's Away and crowd its tiny balcony (imported beers are $5, same as two Jell-O shots, cash only, ATM inside) But the real action is outside, in the small business park's parking lot. Tents sell burgers, beer, booze and souvenir t-shirts. A band plays in the doorway of one of the park's businesses. Several hundred people are here, occasionally venturing across the street to join another party or catch the next train for more mooning. The Mug's Away posts mooning – er, train – times on a board at its patio. While you can't take a drink out of the bar, you can indeed drink outside. In fact, many people arrive pulling coolers filled with their own cocktails. Since this is not an actual official event, rather more of an annual gathering, there is no official start or finish time. The bar opens in the morning and people do arrive early. Others come late and stay until the last train at about 11 p.m. The peak is between noon-3; afterward the crowd seems to get a bit younger and are a bit more SUV than Hog. Mooning of the Amtrak Photos '08
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