Austin Powers Drives the 1BX 11.18.11
Many of us have had to Austin Powers out of a parking space or some other traffic pickle. But on the Muni Diaries Facebook wall yesterday, Stephanie described watching a bus driver thusly maneuver a 1BX-California ‘B’ Express:
This apparently happened during the morning commute hour. Were you there? Do you have an even better FACEPALM commute story? Once you’ve told your boss that Muni ate your homework, tell us your stories. Head to the Muni Diaries Facebook Page, use our submission form, or email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.
Bus Passenger Believes She Lives In World Where Curried Shrimp Is Odorless 11.14.11
Photo by Flickr user Thomas Hawk
While trolling America’s most trusted news source, The Onion, this headline leaped straight into my retinas (and my nose, and my grossly accurate smell memory):
Bus Passenger Believes She Lives In World Where Curried Shrimp Is Odorless
It’s not just curried shrimp for us Muni riders, of course. It’s fried chicken with a tinge of formaldehyde on the 71. It’s your neighbor’s unbecoming new scent, “hot yoga studio but filled w hippies+Mexi food+used diapers,” on the 1. Just as easily, Muni smells like hot-dog juice, fertilizer, week-old pants, or pancakes (AKA the worst breakfast ever).
“Muni totally smells like” is one of our favorite Twitter themes, and it can often make one hell of a story. Send that stuff our way @munidiaries on Twitter or to good ol’ email at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com
Streetcar Avengers Fighting Crime and Missed Runs 11.09.11
Art by San Francisco-based artist Julian Lozos. Check out his Kickstartr page (goal met!) for more on his calendar project.
Pretty cool. It’s like choosing which of the X-Men you’d want on your side in a fight (JEAN GREY).
I pick #130 for its deadly combo of style and substance. MSR says it was part of a commission to expand service for the Pan-Pacific International Exposition: the event that brought us the Palace of Fine Arts and showed off a rebuilt — on landfill, but still — post-1906-earthquake San Francisco. Plus, it’s done a tour of duty on almost every streetcar line.
My favorite-favorite F coaches, though, have to be the PCC cars. Smoothest, cushiest ride in town if you time it right (PSST not around 9 a.m. or 5 p.m.).
Meander over to Bernalwood to see more local-landmark superheroes.
If and When You Like-Like a Muni Driver 11.01.11
Image: Flickr user jchinn84.
@marisalevinson on Twitter poses a perfectly valid and hypothetical query:
What do you do if you have a crush on a muni driver…Hypothetical situation…
Rider “Mike” left a missed connection for Muni driver Jackie. But how would you (or did you) go about it? Send us your solutions and shouts out to your uniformed objects of affection.
Important Things: Giant Styrofoam 10.11.11
Question-mark, indeed.
We lament the 500 breaches of Muni etiquette that flew out the window so this thing could have a seat(s). But it does look damned comical just sitting there. Perhaps these are the beginnings of a Halloween costume? It reminded me of Ol’ Drippy from Aqua Teen Hunger Force in its blobularness.
Spotted something cool (balloon animals) or ridiculous (see attached) on your ride? Talk to us about it @munidiaries.
Muni Tattoos Revisited 10.07.11
Photo by SFLocal.net
Some people literally wear love for San Francisco on their sleeves with Muni-related tattoos. There’s everything from an F-Market/Wharves PCC streetcar to a Fast Pass to the Muni worm. The owner of that Muni-worm tattoo, Muni Tattoo Girl, contacted us after that first post and sent us some more pics of her iconic neck piece.
Tattoos being permanent and all (for better or worse), not everyone is willing to make the commitment. Enter temporary Muni tattoos, courtesy of SFLocal.net. The artist celebrated 10 years in our fair city this year.
Fast Pass tattoos above go for $2.25 a pop. Get them — and other SF-related ones — at SFLocal or in the artist’s Etsy store.
Get Entered to Win: Boost Us to 1K Facebook Fans 10.06.11
Photo by Anthony Langford
Want to help us get to 1,000 Facebook fans? That is, want to win cool stuff for helping us get to (and beyond) 1,000 Facebook fans? We’re so close, we can taste it.
Here’s the deal: fan Muni Diaries on Facebook. All our new fans get entered in the contest; that’s everyone who fanned us after this post went live at 11:30 a.m. Thursday until 5 p.m. Friday.
Our lucky winner gets their choice:
- Two tickets to our upcoming Muni Diaries Live show on Nov. 19. Take a gander at the rockin’ good time we’ve had at previous sold-out Muni Diaries Live events.
- One of our locally produced little pieces of SF transit history: a Clipper Card holder. Yesterday, we wrote about our freshest, newest batch, and they’re already selling like hotcakes.
We’ll announce the winner here on the site, on the Facebook Page, and on Twitter @munidiaries Monday morning. Good luck and pre-welcome to our new followers!
“Dog” is my co-pilot 10.05.11
Update: Kristin (@halffullglasses) tweeted the same balloon-animal dog to us from the 16X. She says it was piloting her journey through the Panhandle. Have you spotted it, too? Send us your pics @munidiaries.
If you don’t have a real-life dog to bring on Muni, I see nothing wrong with bringing neon balloon poodles instead.
Historic 7-Haight — What Could Be 09.20.11
Photo by skew-t
Last week, we posted about a circa-1960s Muni bus up for auction, yours for the bargain-basement price of $12,000. You have a little less than a day to bid on that one. But, you ask, what will I do with my vintage Muni bus, other than have fabulous parties in it?
Tofu St. John on our Facebook Page had a popular suggestion:
I think a few should be restored and put into regular service for the retro appeal. Bring back the 7-Haight and only use old, restored buses.
Now there’s an idea.
We had some sad-face after our favorite elusive (read: not ridden that often, but nice when we did) lines got the axe in 2009. After soliciting Muni obituaries for them, we found a number of you felt the same way. A historic version of the 26-Valencia or the 4-Sutter at least makes for some fun afternoon daydreaming, however unlikely it seems in real life.
Will a Car-Free Market St. Make Muni More than Mediocre? 09.15.11
Photo by: Kevin on Flickr
Can it be?
Whenever it happens — and we’re crossing our fingers that it does — will this make our Market Street Muni run more efficiently? Perhaps there will still be late starts, downed power lines, and pedestrians/bicyclists/transit vehicles moving out of turn. But private cars sharing lanes with transit vehicles is a major piece of the puzzle, from where I stand (and sit, crawling on Van Ness heading home or Market Street on the way to work).
Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.
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