Leading the flock of Muni converts on Halloween

Storyteller ilyse iris magy has hella Muni bonafides: she was the first paid “staff member” of San Francisco Transit Riders, where she helped pressure city officials to actually ride the bus. She celebrated her 24th birthday by riding the 24 bus with her friends. Name a Muni line and she can tell you the route. But one Halloween evening, when ilyse found herself evangelizing the value of public transit, the Muni gods had other plans.

Listen to her story:

You can follow ilyse and her non-transit related art on Substack and Instagram at @arainbowsquared. Meanwhile, we are gearing up for the first ever Muni Diaries Art Market this Saturday, Dec. 3 at 80 Albion! We’ll be there from noon to 4pm, along with our group of great vendors who will be selling their transit and SF-themed goodies. See you there!

Photo: Emily Huston

Quick Muni-themed Halloween costume ideas

muni stroller kwokysan

There’s no limit for transit-obsessed San Franciscans dressing up for Halloween (or just dressing up period). Here at Muni Diaries headquarters, we are in possession of both a Clipper Card and Fast Pass costume, but we’ve seen some pretty fantastic Muni-themed outfits through the years. If you’re still looking for inspiration for Wednesday’s trick-or-treat festivities, here are some ideas:

@kwokysan on Twitter sent over this adorable Muni stroller: He says that Muni is his son’s favorite thing on their walks (Photo by @Chelseavmk.)

muni stroller by chelseavmk

Wonder if this guy tried to scan his Clipper card costume on Muni?


Photo by Octoferret

Shoutout to the paper Fast Pass too:

As much as I might detest couples costumes, we have to make an exception for this Dirty Thirty couple.

wayne
Photo by Wayne Grout

Whatever you do, may we suggest making a grand entrance on Muni this way? Oh by the way, it looks like the SFMTA is actually having a Halloween costume contest this year, featuring a pumpkin carved like a Muni bus. Winners get an “#SFMuni treat bag.”

Wanna share your love-hate relationship with Muni with 200 fellow riders? Muni Diaries Live is back on this Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Elbo Room. Help us give the Elbo Room a proper send-off! Tickets going fast.

How extra-SF are you getting with your Halloween costume?

A friend grew up in the Castro, in the ’80s. Adorably, she thought trick-or-treating was something kids only did on TV.

Celebrating Halloween in the Castro was more than just fucking around in the city. The party raged for decades, and many touted it the best Halloween celebration in the country. When I worked at The Examiner in 2006, the party turned deadly, and its status as a city-sanctioned event was canceled from then on. In 2007, additional evening reporters were planned to cover a night of adjacent festivities that, fingers crossed, didn’t turn into calls to the local police stations.

But celebrating Halloween in the city was exactly that: celebrating. And by god, we love celebrating in costume. What’s the most extra-SF Halloween costume you can think of this year? Wrap yourself in gray chiffon as Karl the Fog? Or go all out as the Golden Gate Bridge?

Photo by @Best San Francisco

Or, pull a really punny costume about Muni that only you can enjoy. Via @mcsheffrey

Let’s keep San Francisco’s Halloween a damn good party where everyone also makes it out in one piece. Don’t forget to send us your San Francisco Halloween pics, whether you’re walking your costumed kids around their elementary school or crushing a box of Franzia on Muni Metro. Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com is always open!

Pic by Ken Banks on Flickr

Best SF Halloween costumes: from Muni stroller to Muni drivers

bus zombies by emma_rkg

Too hung over to recall what happened Saturday night? Let us recap it for you. Here are the best Halloween costumes we saw on Muni this weekend. I threw one in there that’s not actually Halloween, but just another day on Muni. See if you can guess which one.

In the photo above by @emma_rkg, the zombie apocalypse has hit Muni. As expected, other passengers look pretty indifferent.

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