Amtrak Commuters To Get Mooned July 14

Most local commuters probably don’t ride Amtrak through the bedroom community of Laguna Niguel in Orange County, but just in case here’s a warning:

For more than three decades, on the second Saturday of July, hordes of Amtrak exhibitionists have gathered along the tracks near Mugs Away Saloon in the small city to expose their derrieres to passing trains.

This year will be no different. The annual all-day Mooning of Amtrak and Mooning of Metrolink is July 14.

Last year, the annual Saturday moon platoon was smaller than in those previous. Instead of thousands of rumps, only a few hundred were on hand for the 7 a.m. kickoff to the daylong event.

City officials no doubt cheered the depressed turnout. In recent years, they've fielded numerous reports of drunkenness, public urination and spectator-caused traffic jams.

Things got so out of hand that, in 2009, town fathers had to pass a law making it illegal to urinate in public within Laguna Niguel city limits. Ditto for drinking booze in public.

The annual event began in July 1979, when K.T. Smith told friends at the Mugs Away Saloon he would buy a drink for anyone who stepped outside and "mooned" the train. Many took him up on it, and a tradition was born…