No Pants Subway Ride

Thousands Brave Chilly New York Weather in Underwear
By Don Tagala, ABS-CBN North America
Jan. 11, 2011

NEW YORK -Some young Filipino Americans in New York may have looked like they forgot their pants on Sunday, January 9, but they were in on one of the biggest pranks pulled off inside New York’s subway trains.

photo by metromix.com

“Alright, so welcome everybody to the 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride, so if you’re not here to take your pants off, you’re definitely in the wrong spot”, was the message given to many participants.

Staged by Improv Everywhere, hundreds of volunteers came out Sunday at the annual New York “No Pants Subway Ride”.

Organizers said about 3,500 people rocked their coolest underwear in multiple New York subway lines. Many Filipinos sad, their mission was to cause “scenes of chaos and joy in public places.”

The idea is to act like nothing unusual is going on.

Jonathan Deguzman of New Jersey, said, ”It’s a nice experience, to surprise everybody, no one had pants on, we all pretended that it was like a normal day.”

Janice of New Jersey also said, “It was interesting actually. There was a child next to me, I felt a little awkward. I felt like I kinda traumatized and scarred the child for life…”

While the yearly No Pants subway ride is liberating for most people in on the prank, many commuters were baffled by their pants-less riders experience.

The mission started out with only 7 people in 2002, today it has grown into an international celebration of silliness in 50 countries around the world.

Many Filipino Americans who did it, said they took their pants off in the subway for the very first time on Sunday.

Kevin Calicdan of Orlando Florida said, “It’s hysterical, I watched the videos online, I just wanna take part, I never had a chance to get in so here I am.”

Lesley Mendoza of Los Angeles added “I pretty much have no shame right now, now maybe I have shame since I’m on TV.”

Roger Solema of Piscataway, New Jersey said, “I wanna do crazier stuff, there are a lot of things Improv Everywhere does so I wanna try, hopefully take part in those things…”

Organizers say there were 10,000 people who signed up on Facebook for this year’s pants-less ride but only a third actually showed up because of the freezing weather.

Those who missed out will have to wait a year to join in the next subway prank.


No Pants 2011 New York Reports
by improveverywhere.com

The 10th Annual No Pants Subway Ride went off without a hitch today in New York. We are estimating 3,500 participants. Riders met at meeting points spread out all over the city and converged on Union Square. The high was 32 degrees and wind gusts were up to 47 MPH. There were also No Pants rides in 50 other cities around the world in 24 countries!

Photos:

- Agent Katie Sokoler’s photos [Downtown - 6 train]

- Agent Ari Scott’s photos [Astoria]

- Agent Brian Fountain’s photos [Brooklyn]

- Agent David Bledsoe’s photos [Downtown - 1 train]

- Agent Ilya Chigirev’s photo [Flushing]

- Agent Susan Sermoneta’s photos [Central Park]

- Agent Gabriel Chai [Bushwick]

- Metromix’s photos [Brooklyn]

- Agent Lenny Rosmarin’s photos [Downtown - N train]

- Jim Kiernan’s photos [Downtown - E train]


If you want to join next year, stay tune at improveverywhere.com.