Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You(r Muni neighbor)

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Jesse was recently, well, bemused on Muni. Here’s why.

I got up to ask the Muni driver if he thought the bus was going to make it to upper Market since the street looked like it was blocked off up ahead. As I was doing this, the crazy guy boarded the bus (an F Bus, btw, since there was something wrong with the streetcars) and started answering my question with “yes, yes, we’ll make it to Church St.,” which in hindsight is somewhat interesting because Church was my destination. Crazy guy and I both went to sit in the sideways seats at the front of the bus. I noticed there were two quarters on his seat just as he sat down on them.

I said to him, “Hey man, you just made 50 cents,” as I pointed to the quarters. Without looking at them, he reached back and grabbed them from practically under his ass and held them in his tightly closed fist. He said “Here, I can tell you the dates on them.” Then he seemed to concentrate for a second, and said “1977…1995.” He opened his hand and we looked. He was right on both accounts. “I can always predict dates on coins,” he explained. That was just the beginning.

Other topics of conversation covered:

  • His Superior Court murder case was dismissed.
  • He is turning 41 next week.
  • Everyone has transistor radios.
  • Fuck his dad.
  • His family is trying to kill him.
  • He can predict the date on coins. (see above)
  • His mom died at 57.
  • This is his first day without heroin or methadone.
  • He only wears Element shoes but doesn’t skate anymore.
  • Fuck his dad for ducking him for his whole life.
  • This city is pissing him off.
  • His last name rhymes with Bolinas.
  • The guy sitting across from us might be his dad.
  • He’s got to leave this city before he kills someone again.
  • His family is everywhere, even in City Hall.
  • Theres photography studios everywhere, and that’s how he knows how to find his dad.
  • He can tell that he and I are on the same wavelength.
  • Oh, and fuck his dad.

There’s a little something for everyone in that story, we think. What’s your Muni story?

Category: diaries, Funny: Muni LOLs Tags:

K, L, and M Muni Metro lines to West Portal are down (updates)

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Final update (7:25 a.m., next day): SF Appeal reports that Muni Metro is running again following repairs overnight.

Update (9:36 p.m.): SFGate now reports that crews will work throughout the night to restore power to the damaged lines. SFMTA spokespeople hope to have service running before the morning commute.

Update (5:57 p.m.): SF Appeal reports that a semi brought down the wires that are causing the delay. According to 511.org, the delay persists as of now.

Original post: SFGate has the story.

Category: News

Serious question: Would you spend the night in a Muni streetcar?

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A Dutch company would have you do just that. Well, sorta.

Muni rider Randy shared this one with us. Located north of Amsterdam, the Controversy Inn* converts old streetcars into rooms that it leases out to people who sleep. It’s a novel concept, sure. But it has us wondering whether such an idea would have legs this side of the pond.

What do you think? If a renovated, cleaned, out-of-service old Muni streetcar were available to spend the night in, would you do it? I mean, at least on Controversy Inn’s streetcars, there actually is a toilet on board. Right?

*Warning: Ugly website ahead

Category: diaries

San Francisco Engagement Shoots on Muni

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Photo: Sarah Dawson Photography

Almost as much as they love trashing it, people love taking pictures of Muni. Exhibit A: our Muni Photos Flickr pool. Exhibit B: the couples who deemed it romantic enough for engagement and wedding photos. Reader Erin pointed us to these photos, starring love and Muni, by Sarah Dawson Photography. Pictured below are Katie and Shadi, and Bryan and Michelle, respectively.

We curse it to hell during commute hours, but any San Francisco photo shoot just isn’t complete without it. In 2009, Jeff and I couldn’t resist, either. We met in San Francisco and get all marshmallowy over neat stuff on public transit, so there you go.


Photo: Right Angle Images


Photo: Right Angle Images

Snuggle up on Muni (with permission from your snugglee, that is), and send us your photos and stories today. Why’s Muni your backdrop for more than getting to and fro?

Category: diaries, Photos Tags: ,

Do you know the way down San Jose (Avenue)?

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Photo: Courtesy Richard Brandi, Bernal Cut Southbound 1907. S-P Trainline, official publication of the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society, Winter 2005. No. 82

This feels like some far-off land to me, but it’s San Francisco circa 1907.

At a recent Glen Park Neighborhood Association meeting, architectural historian and native San Franciscan Richard Brandi enlightened the group about this old train route on the south side of town. This Southern Pacific Railroad line connected San Francisco and San Jose. Part of the route went through Glen Park and the Mission District around Dolores and 28th. In the photo, this very prototypical train is zipping through the Bernal Cut: today’s San Jose Avenue.

From the neighborhood association write-up:

Brandi traced a fascinating journey along the old route, finding remnants and reminders of the tracks, with houses and other structures placed strategically and sometimes awkwardly to make way for the trains to pass.

With the rise of the auto and truck and the decline of the train, there were large lots of land vacated by the train car barns. This is where many of our present-day supermarkets are located, such as the Safeway on Mission near 30th Street.

Thanks, Beth, for sending this nifty glimpse of transit in the southeast parts of town.

Category: diaries
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