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A Brief History of Pants
It seems there is a sort of subtle resentment for pants growing in popular culture. Although Improv Everywhere has been organizing their annual No Pants Subway Ride in New York for seven years, only recently has the tradition really taken hold in cities around the world.
This past weekend, Toronto, along with Adelaide, Australia, New York, San Francisco, and a bunch of American cities you probably aren’t interested in hearing about, joined Improv Everywhere in this tradition by riding the subway pantless.
Toronto’s ride was organized by Suzana Barbosa, a newcomer in the free, fun, non-commercial, public events game, who may just end up being rookie of the year. She calls her project “Random Living.” Newmindspace also lent the ride some of its promotional muscle.
We met in the parking lot of the Dundas West Shoppers Drug Mart, shivering a little bit with the cold and a little bit with anticipation. The police came and told us we could take off our pants but we couldn’t jaywalk. After waiting half an hour for stragglers, we were off to the subway and the police helped us cross the street. The plan was simple: board the subway at Dundas West, and every third stop or so, more people would take off their pants.
Once on the subway and totally sans pants, it was hard to keep a straight face, but most people read quietly or remarked with a sense of vague confusion about how cold it was. We turned back at Donlands and headed to the Crossways Mall for a pint, still pantless. Toronto’s first No Pants Subway Ride (an annual tradition in the making) was a success. We look forward to Random Living’s next event!
Photos by RocketMan.