eugenia

Eugenia Chien has been eavesdropping on the 47, 49, or 1 lines since the mid-90's. She lives by the adage, "Anything can happen on Muni" (and also, "That's not water.")

Muni Diaries Live is back on Nov. 3!

October 12, 2018 eugenia Leave a comment

Our favorite night of the year is back on Saturday, Nov. 3, but this time we will have to say goodbye to the Elbo Room, which has been the home of Muni Diaries Live for nearly ten years. The Elbo Room building is on the market, and the beloved bar will be closing in Jan, 2019. Won’t you come and help us give them a proper send-off?

Tickets are on sale now on Eventbrite. Stay tuned for details on our new venue for 2019 and beyond.

A sneak peek of our lineup:

– Alexandria Love is a writer from Oakland and also the current reigning champion of the Dirty Haiku Battle at Oakland’s Tourette’s Without Regrets. You can also follow her writing on her website, hereswhythatsfunny.com.

– Irene McCalphin is a writer, singer, burlesque dancer, model, speaker, kinkster, and geek.

– Joe Kukura is a long-time San Francisco journalist whose work you have seen in Thrillist, SF Weekly, SFist, and more.

– Matt Shapiro is a musician and the co-owner of the Elbo Room. After working at the Elbo Room for years as the manager and booker, Matt and co-owner Erik Cantor purchased the bar in 2010.

– Nuala Sawyer is the news editor at the SF Weekly. She writes about a little bit of everything: City Hall, the courts, homelessness, immigration, housing, crime and transportation.

– Rachel Lark is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Her music has been featured on The Savage Lovecast and Salon.com and she tours regularly throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Grab a ticket, and we’ll see you at the Elbo Room on Nov. 3!

Muni Diaries Live

Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018 (tickets)

Doors: 6 p.m.
Show: 7 p.m.

Elbo Room
647 Valencia Street, San Francisco

Take Muni there: J-Church, 12, 14, 22, 33, 49, or BART: 16th or 24th St. Stations

Photo credit: Right Angle Images

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs Tags: muni diaries live

Mom of the year makes Muni birthday cake dreams come true

October 8, 2018 eugenia 3 comments

This is gonna make you want to be a kid all over again: train-obsessed kid (and pro Muni rider) Calvin just celebrated his birthday with possibly the most best cake ever. Mom Sonia presented him with this adorable mini Muni bus cake, complete with the 23-Monterey line sign and his name on the side. How awesome is this? The look on his face says it all.

Let’s take a close look at the edible version of the 23:

Once more, from the side.

Sonia tells us that the cake is by My Favorite Bite, and it was wholly approved by the birthday boy.

We’re just suckers for Muni-themed stuff, like this birthday party (with BART temporary tattoos!) and even this racing car from a couple of pretty cool Bernal dads.

If you’ve spotted some more Muni or BART-themed goodies in the wild, you know who to call! Email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Muni Diaries Live is back on Saturday, Nov. 3 at the Elbo Room. Help us give the Elbo Room a proper send-off! Tickets are on sale now.

Category: Aww: Cute on Muni Tags: 23-Monterey

A Muni-themed poetry throwdown because San Francisco

October 3, 2018 eugenia Leave a comment

If you’ve been to our live shows, you know one of the highlights is the Muni Haiku Battle: a Muni-themed poetry throwdown. Suffice it to say we have had some intense 5-7-5 syllable battles onstage, covering the gamut of topics (see: bodily fluids on seats) and stuff you might encounter on Bay Area public transit.

To give you a taste of what it’s all about (and entice you to see it in person at our next show Nov. 3!), this podcast episode features our most recent battle from start to finish. That battle of wills, which took place at our 10th anniversary show in April, pit reigning champion Alexandria Love against challenger Jessica Cohen. Jessica is an illustrator and self-described infrequent performer/fortune teller. She grew up in the East bay and went to college in San Francisco. Alexandria is a writer from Oakland and also the reigning champion of our inspiration: the Dirty Haiku Battle at Oakland’s Tourette’s Without Regrets.

You can see our next Muni Haiku Battle at our fall show: Muni Diaries Live, Nov. 3, 2018 at the Elbo Room (tickets on sale now!). Alexandria goes up against challenger, local writer/journalist Joe Kukura.

Listen to this week’s episode:

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Photo by Right Angle Images.

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

San Francisco Diaries: Trapped under Civic Center with an active shooter overhead

September 24, 2018 eugenia Leave a comment

In this episode of San Francisco Diaries, Louis Evans shares a story of one seemingly uneventful day when he was leaving the underground parking lot at Civic Center, only to learn there was an active shooter situation above ground.

In the confusion that ensued, Louis and his partner sat in their car for hours, turning over doomsday scenarios over in their heads—including their plan of attack if the shooter wandered into the garage. The story took an interesting turn after our heroes realized they weren’t the only people stuck in the garage.

Louis is the host of a new literary event, Cliterary Salon: a show featuring rowdy, original stories about female sexual pleasure, feminism, or really anything in that umbrella, bringing a spirit of fun and sexuality to a literary scene that tends to focus on the cis male experience.

Listen to his story here:

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You, too, can add an entry to our collective journal! San Francisco Diaries is our spinoff podcast series, which celebrated its first birthday this month. It’s all about personal stories about why you live here and what makes our city “so San Francisco.” Tag us with your tale on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox is always open, too.

Photo by @omiB91

Category: San Francisco Diaries Tags: podcast, san francisco diaries

The boat is back for Muni Heritage Weekend

September 7, 2018 eugenia One comment

Muni heritage is this weekend, when you’ll be able to ride vintage Muni cars including the Boat Tram. On Saturday and Sunday, you can ride vintage streetcars like Streetcar 1, dating back to Muni’s opening day in 1912.

You might also see “Dinky,” or Streetcar 578, built in 1896 in San Francisco and the oldest operating streetcar in the United States.

Meeting Joan Didion in San Francisco right after 9/11: One grad student’s tale

August 16, 2018 eugenia Leave a comment

How do you go from humble grad school student to being on stage with one of America’s literary icons, all in a matter of days—especially when those days are ones following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001? This is exactly what happened to one San Franciscan, who met his intellectual idol, Joan Didion, who was speaking at City Arts and Lectures soon after the towers fell.

Our storyteller, Judson True, was a journalism grad student at the time. After a series of nerve-wrecking events, he ended up interviewing Didion on stage at the Herbst Theater. For this podcast episode, he unearthed an ancient email thread from his Yahoo inbox, taking us back to how he got plucked from his classroom and placed onstage with his favorite writer.

Having moved from the midwest to San Francisco, Judson says that “everyone has their own San Francisco. That’s one of the great things about a real city.” Meeting Didion that day marked a significant moment in his time here that defined what San Francisco was, and is, to him.

Listen to this story (full transcript below):
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– All your fav podcast apps

You might remember Judson from one of our early Muni Diaries Live shows, which took place right after he left his post as the SFMTA spokesperson (perhaps one of the most stressful city jobs ever?). He’s currently the chief of staff for California State Assemblyman David Chiu.

This story is an installment of San Francisco Diaries, our spinoff series, which just celebrated its first birthday! Thanks to your support on Patreon, we’ve been able to record lots of new stories in our podcast studio. If you like these stories and can spare your coffee money for a day or two, we’d appreciate your help. You can find us at Patreon.com/munidiaries.

Know someone with a great story about San Francisco? We are all ears—submit your own story at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.

Photo by @goincase

=== Transcript ===

I found out about the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, from my wonderful but soon to be ex-girlfriend who had just moved to Taiwan on a Fulbright. She lived in the future, so she saw the attacks on TV while I was sleeping. She called and told me what was happening and I turned on the news in my rented San Francisco apartment. I spent those devastating hours in shock with the rest of the world. Read more

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs, San Francisco Diaries Tags: podcast, san francisco diaries

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Author: eugenia