This afternoon we had around 900 participants in the 7th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. The crowd was so large that we spread out over three subway lines, using the 6 (per tradition), R, and 2 trains. The NYPD was there to escort us just like last year, and they were extremely nice. Everyone ended up together in Union Square for a giant above-ground pantless gathering in the nice 50 degree warmth. If you were there, please take a few moments to leave an agent report in the comments. With 900 riders, I’m sure there are 900 different stories. We will be using this page to compile links to photos and video as it becomes available, and sometime in the next few days we’ll create an official mission report. (See the post below this for coverage of the 9 No Pants rides that took place in other cities across the world.)
Thanks to everyone who came out to participate! If this was your first event, make sure you are on the NY Agents mailing list so you’ll find out about upcoming missions.
Here are two teaser photos from Chad Nicholson:
I’ll just copy what I sent out on Facebook:
Okay, so today (Jan. 12) was the 7th annual No Pants NYC Subway Ride. Maybe 700-1000 people showed up in Foley Square, and those of you who didn’t go without good excuse, are in fact, corporate puffins.
It began with everyone I know chickening out. I went alone, armed with my iPod and bag (and pants) to Foley alone. After being lost and getting some directions on the phone from Mama (who did not know what I was doing), I noticed a lot of people with bags going one way, so I followed. I hoped to find Billy, who said he was going. I wore the orange sweatshirt of doom for that reason. Interestingly, Hanna, a senior I don’t think I’ve ever really talked to much before, called my name, recognizing the obnoxious sweatshirt. Her friend Debra came along too. Eventually Billy found us and we waited around in the crowd. All the people were nice, no perverts, no freaks. After a brief megaphone speech, the crowd was divided by which train we’d ride. Hanna, Billy, Debra and I were to ride the 2/3 train up to Times Square, then transfer to the N back to Union Square. Once we were convened, a guy said we now had to split up by designated train car. After deciding for no reason we were group five, others convened around us. We were the loudest, most spirited group in the 2/3 crowd, chanting “five” a lot. We met some nice people of various ages, one of which brought cookies. We were assigned a guy to lead us, who was then called Captain Dodd.
No here was the plan: We’d get on the train car with pants, then take of our pants at certain stops, get off, then get on the next train that came. Us fab four were sect 3, so we got depantsed third.
Then the fun: we massed jay walked through traffic, and got on the train, all acting non-chalant. One of the best things I’ve seen in a long time was the people all getting off all along the platform without pants. As a note, Debra was wearing skimpy pink, I had alligator boxers, Hanna had plain black and Billy had a pair that matched his shirt.
We got on the next train, were sects 1 and 2 were already established. I got on, acted normal. A father had to explain to his kids to ignore us all. Hanna later told me that a woman asked what happened, and when Hanna said she left them at home, the woman turned to another pantsless person and asked how they knew Hanna.
We got off at Times Square in order to switch, when the catcalls started. Guys hanging in the subway halls between the two platforms yelled things ranging from, “I like that girl,” to, “There be a lot of pussy coming down the stairs”. At one point there was a large band playing with a large crowd in a semicircle in front of them. Our little parade marched right in front of them.
Then I got separated, and got stuck with a guy named Matt and some others. We noticed no other pantsless people were on our train, so we got off and waited for the next one, which was stuffed.
We got off at Union Square, and as I stepped out of the stairwell, Hanna leapt at me, since we all got separated. We hung out briefly, met our fellow “Fivies”, then wwent to that wide space on the south end, were everyone was. Without Pants.
People chanted for others to take their pants off. Various people were forcibly depantsed. Many sang (including us). Many pictures were taken, and many people questioned us, and got no satisfactory answers. One large group when jogging. One creepy guy question Hanna and Debra a lot, and got annoyed, and just kinda followed us, but really couldn’t with all the people around. One man handed out pamphlets suggesting that pants were the answer to our problems (very religious style, too). He was depantsed. Then Debra and Billy had to go.
We kinda gathered our group five, and hit Virgin Records. On the way, one of our new friends said that pants made people corporate puffins. I said Hitler, Stalin and Bush all wore pants. After permeating that store, and taking pictures, we moved on to Staples. One of our group just got transfered from it, so he knew all the employees. We searched the place for pants, during which an intercom message came on saying, “Customers, please put on your pants. Thank you.”
During this, more people left, but we found more. Our entourage moved to Barnes and Nobles for coffee, where we hung out and creeped out studying people. In the end, we all parted.
I went home pantsless, much to my parents surprise.
YEAA JONO! FIVIES! :)
p.s. find my facebook! or i’ll go find yours through nola… :)
i couldn’t find you… but yeah! car five!
other car fives: look for the facebook group called “no pants 08 group five” to get in touch with us!
To Greg from Switzerland, avec the nationalistic undershorts- I’m the pink-lipsticked, pink and grey brief wearing girl from your car. Shoot me an email if you’re up for more city adventuring- pileofrocks@gmail.com. Pants are optional.
Oh, snap! It’s the first “missed connection” of No Pants 2k8!
THIS EVENT ROCKED! Soo much fun meeting up with new people for a common purpose to have some fun! :)
CAR 9! ^_^
-Ray C~
Car number 1 on the 3 train!
First off, I got to Foley Square around 2pm (having given myself ample time for both the commute from outside of the city, as well as ample time for getting lost since I knew it was highly likely I would pull a Rob only with nobody telling me the right way to go). I sat down and started reading my book, and watched as the crowd grew from 10, to 30, to suddenly what looked like 4 or 500 people, maybe more. A couple of people approached me asking me if I knew what the crowd was all about, and I just told them I was trying to find out the same thing.
Once we were broken into groups, and then groups within groups, the anticipation really started to get to me – I had almost done No Pants 2k7 but had been out of town the weekend it happened, so I KNEW I had to be here this year. And I was in a fantastic group – car #1 led the way to the station where we would catch the 3.
Once we were all there and a train came and we boarded, I was in full “I don’t know these people” mode – which was easy enough since I actually didn’t know ANYONE. The first person to depants in our car was sitting right next to me, but I had my book so close to my face that had I not known it was happening, I probably would have missed it anyway, so it was easy to pretend this was a normal occurrence. HOWEVER, a non-participant in our car started freaking out as more and more people started depantsing and leaving the train. She went so far as to approach the conductor and go on about how “these people should be arrested, it’s indecent exposure”. This was maybe the only time I thought about bailing on the mission, as I was still with my pants. However, I overheard the conductor explaining to her that it was actually perfectly legal to be without pants. That brought a smile to my face AND it couldn’t have been better timed, as it was my turn to remove my pants. Game on!
I got off the train at 18th street with some of my fellow agents, but as far as I was concerned I was the only person there. When the next train came and we boarded, seeing people on the train with no pants on (even though I knew they were going to be there!) was a bit of a shock, but I think the people on the car were starting to get used to us getting on the train at that point. I sat down and continued to read my book.
A woman sat down next to me but sort of scooted away so as not to get too close. I saw she was with a friend who wouldn’t sit down, so I turned to them and said “Do you want to sit down? There’s plenty of room, I can scoot over, really it’s no problem!” But she refused, and seemed a little weirded out about the idea of sitting next to someone with no pants on.
I tried to keep interacting with random passengers whenever possible. At 34th street I asked a man sitting next to me on the other side of me if this train stopped at 42nd street, and he told me that he was pretty sure it was the next stop. I thanked him, packed up my book, and prepared to get off the train. Before getting off the train though, the woman who had refused to sit next to me turned to me and asked “I just have to know, why are you all not wearing pants?” I calmly responded “I don’t know about those people, I just have to do laundry”, smiled, and headed on to the platform.
One of the most awesome things about this mission for me was actually the transfer from the red line (2/3) to the yellow line (N/R). Walking through the station at Times Square was a blast, almost hard to keep a straight face about it though. I just handled it like my normal commute, completely forgetting for a moment that I wasn’t wearing any pants. But it’s hard to miss 20, 30, 50, 100 (actually probably more) people walking through the station with no pants on. And walking down the ENTIRE platform of the N/R to get to the first car was quite an adventure!
There were only 3 or four of us that made it all the way down to the first car when the train came, and we got right on. I sat down and resumed reading my book, but I saw a father with two children get on the train and I felt bad for taking up a seat so I offered him the seat and the empty one next to me, which he very happily accepted – and THEN when I stood up he realized I had no pants on. But he didn’t really seem to mind and neither did his kids. I held on to a center pole and tried to keep reading my book. I could hear people reacting to us pantsless folk, but I didn’t catch much of what they were saying. At one point I asked a few people if the train stopped at 14th street, because I wasn’t sure, but they weren’t sure either and wished me luck.
At 14th street, we disembarked and headed up to Union Square. I tried to avoid the mass of pantsless people at Union Square and instead stuck to the edges of the group, randomly asking people who came by if they knew why all these people were gathering with no pants on. Some at first didn’t notice I wasn’t wearing pants either. Whenever I was asked why I wasn’t wearing pants, I stuck to the story I had planned on telling from the beginning – that I didn’t have any clean pants, and I didn’t have any quarters for the laundry machines so I was on my way to my parents house. When people asked me why I wasn’t wearing the dirty pants, I just emphasized that they were REALLY dirty, and that’s kind of gross. I went so far as to say at one point that I had just run into these other pantsless people on the subway and I wanted to see why they weren’t wearing pants, but nobody would tell me, and now I was late getting to my parents house, and I was going to be late for work, the story kind of snowballed and the greatest part was, everybody that I told it to actually seemed to believe me. And if they didn’t believe me they did a great job of making me feel like they did, which was just as good for me.
After a while some of us headed (still pantsless) down to Beauty Bar, which was closed (and had a note that started “dear pantsless” taped to the window), then down to Crocodile Lounge, where cheers erupted every time more pantsless folk wandered in. I talked with some other agents for a little while, then sadly donned my pants and headed home.
This was one of the bravest, craziest, and most amazing things I have ever been a part of. I didn’t realize I had so much self confidence until I started to take my pants off. All in all an AWESOME day that I will be talking about for a VERY long time!
At one point when leaving the train station was finally asked why i wasnt wearing any pants. To which I replied “wait what do you mean?*checks* Holy crap! i cant believe i forgot them. Shirt ok.., boxers fine… but no pants!” The person who i said this to ended up laughing pretty hard at this point. It might have been the wrong answer but at least she liked it :).
So I was on the R train group 2 (woooo!!!) and it was pretty much awesome.
We were one of the smaller groups with something around 15 or 20ish. I was in a group with my friends of 6 people, but we had stragglers who were alone.
So we get onto the train, and the first brave guy takes off his pants, and leaves. Then the next brave girl. Then a group of 5, and then us. I was (shockingly) fine with taking my pants off, it was just that I started smiling a lot and sort of broke cover by almost laughing. Oh well!
I was asked by one guy why I wasn’t wearing pants to which I responding “Oh shit! I knew I forgot something!” and he continued to ask me if that happened often :P
So we had to a transfer at 59th, but our group got a bit separated (although we apparently managed to get on and off at the same place, just without knowing). Me and 2 friends followed a guy from group 2 who was separated with his group of friends. We got on, looked funny, and got some funny looks.
We ended up getting off at Union Square (like everyone else) and we got the best looks from people. Well, there WERE hundred of people leaving one subway station in a constant flow without pants on. I’d give them a funny look too…
Afterwards, the twos from R went and got some food, or tried to. We went into a bar and we were kicked out because we didn’t have pants (resevoir, we don’t like them, at least it was temperary warmth). Oh well. We kept getting great looks as we got further from Union square.
One guy was drinking something in a shop and was facing us through a window, he took up his drink, saw us, and stopped, cup midair, staring. He had absolutely no idea what to do. It was pretty great.
Overall, awesome time, doing it next year. GO R TWOS!
I was amazed by the huge crowd @ Foley Square, what an incredible sight! It was so cool to be part of such a big event, & got me even more pumped up than I was. I was terrified but excited as hell. I was on the R train, group 1. R train, group 1, great job guys!!!! We had a really small group, & the trains weren’t very crowded, so there wasn’t a whole lot of reaction. I was pretending to read the paper while scanning the car & trying to listen. There were 3 foreign guys who were laughing & talking about it, but of course I couldn’t understand their language. There were a few other stares & laughs.
I actually missed taking my pants off because I thought there were a few more people in our group! Since everyone else was getting off @ the next stop, I got off the train w/ my pants on. I hung out awhile, casually waiting for the train, then dropped my pants right there on the platform, giving everyone on that platform & the one across the tracks the unexpected show! I was proud of my improv skills right there.
My favorite moments:
-When we were waiting for the next uptown train after first depantsing, a car for a different line stopped in the station. Being near the car door, I could hear a loud ‘WHAT????’ as people saw us standing out on the platform! Makes me laugh again thinking about it. People were gawking out the windows till the train left.
-Inside Union Station, coming up from the train, seeing dozens & dozens of pantsless people streaming in from every which way, since we were coming from 3 different lines, & finally getting full on reactions of people. ‘There’s another one w/out her pants’, ‘There’s another’. It was incredibly awesome to see panstless people everywhere, more & more as the seconds passed.
-Union Square. Awesome. Hundreds & hundreds of pantsless people, dozens of bystanders who didn’t know what the heck they had stumbled into! They were all laughing, calling friends on their phones, taking pics on the phones. lololol We were all milling around, finding members of our original group, taking pics. I even got pics of this great guy who had taken off his pants & said ‘I took off my pants, now will you please tell me what’s going on?’ He was great, & some of us had to get our picture taken w/ him.
It felt so natural to not have pants on, I really didn’t want to put them back on. I didn’t relish the thought of being a single woman braving the Port Authority & the bus to Clinton in my underwear! It really did feel uncomfortable wearing them again.
I’m so glad I went for it, & will be back for every future year. I had a blast, & think Charlie & the rest of the crew did a great job of splitting us up on 3 lines. Stroke of genius boys. Thanks for all your work, I was impressed by your plan to adjust for the humongous growth in attendance.
It was really cool to know that No Pants Days were taking place in so many other cities around the world today. That’s mind blowing to me.
What can I say? My first No Pants Subway Ride was an absolute thrill. Prior to disembarking, I was able to share my rationale for participating in the event (“I want to make people lives that much more interesting”) with a reporter from the Daily News (who alas, did not join us in our pants-shedding fun). I then boarded the 6th car on the 6 train — Our fearless leader Chris (he of knee-length sock fame) got us started off on the right foot, stepping up to the plate after our original ‘firster’ disappeared somewhere on the platform (I saw him in Union Square afterwards, sans pants, so it was nice to know he made it through okay). I was second to go, and still not a word from the normal, pants-wearing people in our original car that they even noticed. Oh well. Stepped onto the platform at Spring St. and waited for the next train. On the platform I informed a gentleman with a videocamera that I had in fact forgot my pants that morning. This was actually a lie, as I would later admit to not forgetting them, but actually getting to the dry cleaners too late last night to pick them up. Chris has made a great impression in our car boarding at the previous stop with a small cadre of teenagers, and they were already making loud comments ranging from snark to disbelief as myself and people at subsequent stops boarded their car without pants. By Union Square we had a good 20-25 people in our car sans pants, and the teenagers were just going on and on with their reactions and asking each other what was happening and whether or not to get off and wait for another train. I took a seat and read my newspaper undisturbed until 96th Street, overhearing many curious comments passed back and forth between various bewildered transit riders. Exiting en masse from every car of the train, we were confronted with numerous shouts asking what was going on from various onlookers, I went to the newsstand and bought a Coke — I can only imagine with the two Chinese-speaking gentlemen working there must have thought of the vision of hundreds of pants-less people walking in front of their shop. Boarding a downtown train, to the continuing disbelieving looks and comments from assorted passers-by, pants-deficient riders by now outnumber normal riders in the car. The ride passed rather uneventfully until we all exited at Union Square where one lady loudly expressed her high-and-mighty opinion that “…it would be alright if you guys were doing this for a reason, but no one seems to be able to tell me why this is going on!” Once I exited the station, I milled about looking for a former co-worker I had run into on the platform before separating into our individual cars, but alas, could not find her. (I didn’t know anyone who was coming to the event, but I was sure I would run into someone I knew. This always happens to me.) In the meantime though I felt privileged to witness several conversions to the anti-pants side, including many of the usual Union Square punk crowd, and a Dennis Kucinich supporter. Also the pants-free twister was a treat to watch. After a while though, it did begin to get a little too cold, even in my boots, so I resumed my normal pants-wearing and headed to the F train to go home.
Awesomeee experience
6 TRAIN GROUP 4 Yeahh!!
When asked why i didnt have my pants on, i proceeded a very serious speech. It was about the Breaking Newss, shown on Time Magazine, that extra O2 to the you-know-where, will enhance growth size. Much like plants, without sufficient oxygen, they will shrivel, and possibly die. So to maintain a healthy you-know-what, we must take our pants off, for it to gain a good amount of oxygen.
Just imagine what his respones was..
Red Line (2/3), Car 8!
I’m the guy with the really long goatee from Charlotte.
This was the most fun thing I’ve done all year! I had a blast meeting all of you, and I loved the instant connection we had, simply by being adventurous and non-conformist.
I was the second person in my car to remove my pants, so people were just starting to talk about the first person who got off the train without pants. As soon as the car started moving again, I started undoing my belt, and this thug dude right behind me, was like “whoa! oh no… what are you doin’ man?” I simply looked at him, and said “it’s getting a little stuffy in here”. GREAT FUN!
Through the adventure, at least 5 people stopped me and asked “what is all this about”?
I replied: “what is WHAT about”
They would say something like: “why are all these people wearing underwear”?
I’d reply: “Oh, so you mean YOU don’t wear underwear?”
They’d say: “Well, of course I do”!
Then I’d say: “Awesome! Me too!”
I’d try to give them a high-five…then walk away.
So much fun! =)
Walking around The Virgin Megastore was fun after prancing around Union Square, but the best part was finishing out the evening with all the other pantless at Crocodile Lounge. (There was only one bartender… that poor guy!)
It was hilarious chanting “NO PANTS” to everyone who walked in the door, and watching some of them get embarrassed and walk out (we’d call them back inside), or cheering whenever someone new walked in without any pants on.
A group of ladies celebrating a bachelorette party came in and decided to hang out with us. It’s fitting that all of us guys didn’t have any pants on, though they didn’t know before coming inside. =)
Anyway, I had a fantastic time. It was certainly worth the flight up from Charlotte, NC, and I plan to to it again in 2009!
Again, I loved meeting so many of you! Feel free to contact me on my Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/metachimp
Red Line, Car 8 represent! =)
This was a blast! I was one of the photographers. I wore pants.
I loved seeing some of the particiPANTS (sorry) be approached and questioned by various passersby: some were clearly upset that they did not get the “right” answer to their question and walked away in a huff. Others laughed and seemed to actually have a sense of humor.
I will tell the rest of my story in pictures.
Flickr is currently down (ARGH!) but I should have pics up by Sunday morning, I hope. Click on my name above for flickr page.
This was my first mission and I had a blast! R line car 6! Had a blast with all of you guys, feel free to send me an email! Aside from the usual fun associated with taking your pants off in public I really enjoyed getting off at Union Square to find lobbyists handing out pro-pants propaganda (not to mention the guy canvassing for Kucinich who dropped his pants several times for the cameras!)
Will definitely be back for more, keep it up Charlie!
Sorry… I posted the wrong Facebook URL 2 or 3 post above.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=22220264
thanks!
–Aaron
I rode the R train in the last car (group 0). Once my pants came off another participant complimented my socks. The comments and confusion of the train passengers were hilarious. A pantsless rider said to me on the way back that we seemed to outnumber the “normal†people. At Union square I heard a little girl screaming out “that’s disgusting†to everyone around her. The most awkward part of my day was putting my pants back on at Union Square.
I have to say, that was by far the most amazing experience I’ve ever had on the train. I went with a friend of mine, we were car 5 on the 6 train, woo!! My favorite reaction of all was a woman who during the “de-pantsing” bit starting going “Oh my God. OH MY GOD. No he isn’t. No they aren’t. Oh My God.” and covering her eyes. And my second favorite moment would have to be when we all got off at Union Sq and people around us we’re going “What is this, the twilight zone? national no pants day? Is there something I should know?”
I also had a couple of women come up to me and tell me that they wanted a specific picture with me because I’m “curvy” and they wanted to post a picture of a “real woman” on their myspace page to advocate their group, “Curvy Divas.” My friend (who didn’t depants, sadly) was appalled, but even she had to admit it was tons of fun. I can’t wait till next year!
By the way, I was on the R train, group 6.
we also lost our lead off old guy on the 6th car i think heather went off to find him but we don’t know where he wnt.