Photo diary: Stand back, please
Photo by Flickr user __mikey
“They say to stand behind the yellow line. I was on it.”
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Photographer Kristen Holden: Love Stories on Muni
Photographer, poet, and model Kristen Holden‘s pictures of Muni riders have caught our eye for a while. We found her on Flickr as “SFLoveStory” and tracked her down to find out what makes Muni such a great subject. Holden grew up in Chicago and has lived in San Francisco for almost seven years. She lives in Russian Hill with her musician boyfriend and their “talentless dog.”
What is it about Muni that inspires you to take photos there?
This simple answer is: I ride a lot and I shoot my surroundings more than I do anything else. But what makes Muni rife for photographic capture is that the exterior environment is always changing around the same structure or, like, bones of the scene. There are endless characters to make up stories about.
What’s it like taking pictures on Muni?
I think people generally assume I’m a tourist. Once in a while someone will ask me about my camera and why I shoot film (I’m currently shooting with a second-hand Canon EOS Elan II SLR with a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.)
Got a favorite Muni line?
I ride the 45 and 30 to get from Russian Hill, where I live, to downtown and vice versa. I take the 47 and 49 quite a bit. Oh, and I’m one of those weird people who actually rides the 19…it gets the closest to the film-processing center I go to in SoMa. I love the cable cars and streetcars too. The mint-green colored streetcar from Brooklyn (Car 1059?) is my favorite.
You can see more of Holden’s photographs on her website, Kristen-Holden.com.
Hella Hot Again at Muni Diaries Live
Photo by Flickr user Chipmonkey
More than 100 of you spent Friday night with us, doubling over laughing at BART driver Kelly Beardsley’s impersonation of a hapless German tourist and singing along to McPuzo and Trotsky’s 38 Geary song. For those of you who didn’t make it to the hot Make-Out Room that night (or couldn’t make it in due to capacity reasons – our apologies), let me give you a little taste of the ridiculously fun night.
Our favorite burlesque cheerleading squad, The Cock-Ts, kicked off our third spoken word party at the Make-Out Room with Muni cheers written especially for us. Their misguided counselor, Coach Chester, had a few faux-‘stache malfunctions, but that didn’t faze varsity cheerleaders EZ-Martini, Dizzy Disaster, and Lil Biscuit.
Photo by Flickr user Chipmonkey
Weekend Photos: See you tonight
Photo by Flickr user kimchidonut
This week was particularly rollercoastery in the Muni news department. Some highlights:
– Over the weekend: Muni bus operator sent to hospital following attack (CBS 5)
– Value of stolen copper wire from Sunset Tunnel: $60-66. (SF Weekly)
– MTC report shows dismal future for transit operators (Streetsblog SF)
– Muni operator becomes second female ‘gripman’ in cable car history (Examiner)
– SFMTA board approves two-year budget by 4-3 vote; Muni cuts extended (Streetsblog SF)
– Pedestrian Dies Following Muni Accident at Mission and Beale (SF Appeal)
– Wall Street Journal asks: What grade would you give NextBus?
– Muni service cuts (see fifth item, above) could be pared back (City Insider)
– Man killed by Muni light-rail vehicle at Castro Station (SF Appeal)
Whew! What a weird, shitty, wonderful week it was. It’ll be capped off by Eugenia and The Poetry Store‘s Silvi on Pirate Cat Radio today at 5, and of course, Muni Diaries Live! Breaking It Down at the Make-Out Room at 7:30. See you there!
Photo by Flickr user Generik11
Photo by Flickr user Whole Wheat Toast
Photo by Flickr user B4YK1D5
Shell-game scam caught on video
We reported the shall-game scam on Muni late last month. @dblake just tweeted this video he got of the scam in action:
Just watched a guy lose $12 in an obvious shell-game scam on Muni. Everyone tried to warn him but he didn’t listen.
Careful out there, folks. Healthy skepticism, always.
Mormons in the Mission via Muni
Photo by Thomas Hawk
Ed. note: Okay, lately in the land of Muni news, things really suck, for Muni, for the victims and their friends and family, maybe for you… But we’re a story-telling site after all, and we received this charming story from Muni rider Daishin on Wednesday just before the tragic accident at Mission and Beale. It perfectly encapsulates why the show here must go on. See for yourself.
Occasionally I’m forced to take the 14 into La Mission. The last time I did this BART was having problems from Powell Station to 24th Street so I hopped a 14. At the second stop at Mission and 8th Street a gaggle of Mormon Missionaries boarded the bus. They were fresh-faced boys looking a little out of place with their dark suits, white shirts and ties. They were a little noisy for Mormon kids, laughing and poking each other. Three lovely transgendered ladies dressed to the nines got onto the bus right behind them. For a second I was concerned that maybe there would be some altercation between the two groups, being that the Mormons had just put so much support behind Proposition 8. But instead the trannies plopped themselves down in the middle of the Mormon boys, and started talking with them. Soon the level of the conversation was quite loud and humorous. They were exchanging ipod tunes lists, discussing fashion and make-up secrets. The trannies got off at 16th and Mission said goodbye and hugged all the Mormon boys.
I have to say it was one of the most interesting interactions I’ve experienced on Muni. I guess this is what people mean when they say there’s a lot of diversity in San Francisco.
Got a slice-of-San-Francisco-life story to tell? Tell it here.