Today Is the Day When Hundreds of People Wait in Line for IHOP Pancakes

Right now, hundreds of New Yorkers are participating in the time-honored ritual of waiting for hours in the cold to eat free IHOP pancakes. That's right, today is "National Pancake Day," the made-up holiday on which the mediocre diner chain gives away free pancakes and the NYPD has to set up barricades to control the crowd waiting to get in to the 14th Street IHOP:

Since the Carmine Street IHOP closed back in July, this is once again the only IHOP in Manhattan, so it will have to bear the full force of New York City pancake lovers until the whole ordeal is over at 10 p.m. tonight.

Here's one more look at the situation right now: