Mugs Away Saloon's Amtrak Mooning Carries On Without Mugs Away

​Mugs Away Saloon's annual mooning of the Amtrak is Saturday.

Check that: it's apparently not true.

Yes, booze-fueled, hearty-partiers will be out there, dropping trou as the choo-choo whizzes by, but the Laguna Niguel watering hole is now distancing itself from the annual event.

Photo by Christopher Victorio

Fall in line.

​"We have nothing to do with the mooning: we do not organize it or promote it," an unidentified Mugs Away Saloon employee tells the Orange County Register. "We have no idea if the mooners are even going to show up this year considering the heavy police presence last year."

(Note to self: remember to make that invitation out to mooners, not Moonies.)

It's odd that Mugs Away no longer feels comfortable being associated with the annual event that began three decades ago as a dare between a few saloon patrons.

Each year since, the number of mooners has grown like many of the original butt barers' waistlines. It's gotten so huge (the event, not the butts), that busy bodies have gone to the City Council to complain about suds-soused partiers puking, pissing and generally making asses out of themselves (sorry, couldn't resist).

So, out has come Johnny Law, and last year's Mooning of the Amtrak was much more subdued, given the police tape, equestrian units and fat deputies on Segways (see Christopher Victorio's slideshow as a refresher).

Will this year's celebration at the northern end of Camino Capistrano return the event to its let-it-all-hang-out-because-that's-what-makes-America-great glory?

Beats the hell out of me. I'm still looking for a pair of peanut-butter-stain-free Underoos.