Laguna Niguel: A more modest year for Moon Amtrak?

In July 2008, Moon Amtrak drew crowds of over 8,000 — and a strong police response after people started “baring more than just their behinds.” The longtime tradition,  in which Mugs Away Saloon patrons drop their drawers for passing-train passengers on the second Saturday in July from morning till night, had turned chaotic.

As a result, on Saturday, July 11, 2009, the 30th annual Moon Amtrak may be less bawdy. Laguna Niguel’s City Council has voted to bring “some order” to the event, by “cordoning off the mooning grounds, restricting parking, and banning drinking and urinating in public.” Read: “Laguna Niguel aims to tame mooning ritual.”

But even if the event will be more closely supervised this year, the ritual is sure to be a party. After all, is it possible for a day or night in the company of mooners (whether or not you choose to follow suit — or partially suitless, as it were) could be remotely dull?

For one of the more memorable train rides you could ask for, plan to get yourself a seat for the “moon show.” Amtrak Pacific Surfliner trains or Metrolink Orange County and Inland Empire weekend lines are where you’ll want to be. According to moonamtrak.org, an information resource on the event, a schedule of estimated train-passing times will be posted in June.

By the way, neither Amtrak nor Metrolink have anything to do with organizing this event.

Mooning will commence on the east side of the tracks, and driving and transport directions as well as GPS coordinates to the mooning site, are on the website.

- Susan Derby, Special to the Los Angeles Times

[Photo: MoonAmtrak.org]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 4:08 pm by Susan Derby and is filed under California, News, Tips & Advice, Orange County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.