Grand Central Station, New York
No Trousers Subway Ride Day
Jan 9
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
In case you have not been warned, The No "Bifurcated Garment" Subway Ride will take place in 20 cities this year. They include Berlin, Boston, Calgary, Chicago, Dallas, Lisbon, London, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Melbourne, Montreal, New York, Phoenix, Porto, San Francisco, Seattle, Saint Petersburg, Tokyo, Toronto and Washington D.C..
This trew-less annual event was created in 2002 by Improv Everywhere, a New York City-based comedy collective that “stages unexpected performances in public places.” The first ride consisted of just seven people. It has since grown into a global phenomenon. Serendipitously, there are newly formed clubs for fans of the "unbifurcated" (kilt talk for no pant legs garments) springing up everywhere! And if you're not a daily kilt wearer, today might be just the day to kilt up! If you're participating in "No (Your Word of Choice)" Day on the Tube or Subway today, get your kilt on instead of pondering which of your fashionable tartan briefs or boxer shorts might show solidarity for this wild and wacky mass transit event. Given the cold winter winds and photos all over the internet today, I would suspect a 14 oz weight of 8 yards of wool might be welcome for all!
Grand Central Station
One of the early days of January is now designated as No Trousers (or in the US "No Pants" Day - a strange holiday which urges the panted to eschew trousers or slacks in favor of underwear only, especially on mass transit, and in the bitter cold.
Noting that in British English, pants means underpants or, informally, nonsense. While in American English, pants means trousers.
Well, regardless, why not wear your kilt instead (underwear will not even be discussed). Every day should be kilt day whether it be a Casual Kilt Friday or Sporran Saturday!
While this event initially started in New York and London as a way to shake up the early mass-transit commute, beware of the pants-less during these cold winter months.
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Grand Central Terminal (GCT; also referred to as Grand Central Station or simply as Grand Central) is a commuter rail terminal located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Grand Central is the southern terminus of the Metro-North Railroad's Harlem, Hudson and New Haven Lines, serving the northern parts of the New York metropolitan area. It also contains a connection to the New York City Subway at Grand Central–42nd Street station.
Grand Central Terminal was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by Reed and Stem, which was responsible for the overall design of the terminal.
Grand Central Terminal arose from a need to build a central station for the Hudson River Railroad, the New York and Harlem Railroad, and the New York and New Haven Railroad in modern-day Midtown Manhattan. The Harlem Railroad originally ran as a steam railroad on street level along Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue), while the New Haven Railroad ran along the Harlem's tracks in Manhattan per a trackage agreement. Business magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt bought the Hudson River and New York Central Railroads in 1867, and merged them two years later. Vanderbilt developed a proposal to unite the three separate railroads at a single central station, replacing the separate and adjacent stations that created chaos in baggage transfer.
For more on the history of this American icon, click the vintage photograph!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
