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 turns 100 this year, and we want to celebrate it with your Muni stories. After all, we think that’s the best part about riding the bus. Today we’re launching our “100 Days, 100 Muni Stories” story drive: submit a Muni story in the next 100 days and a portion of your story can end up on a bus ad!
Your Muni story can be long, short, or even a funny tweet. We’ll choose two of the best stories on Muni Diaries — thanks to SFMTA’s help, portions of the winning stories will appear on advertisements inside the bus. Yes, your clever wit and your name can make an appearance on buses citywide.
With the celebration of the zombification resurrection only a few days off, Little Bird of Prey found this special happy Easter egg on the bus. It’s oregano, right? WTF, indeed.
Muni Diaries is turning four this month (our first post was on April 3, 2008, in fact), and we want to thank you by throwing you a birthday party! Yes, you: We want to thank every single person who has ever tweeted, commented, contributed a story, or LOL’d at the ridiculousness of life on Muni.
So come party with us on Saturday, April 28, at the Make-Out Room! We’ve lined up great 90s hip hop, free margaritas, a photo booth, and door prizes. Mark it on your calendars!
Muni Diaries 4th Birthday DJ Party
April 28 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Free!
Make-Out Room
3225 22nd Street
Routes serving the area: BART 24th St. Station, 12, 14, 22, 33, 48, 49, 67
Get down with your fellow riders and celebrate life on the bus!
*Jam to 90s hip hop courtesy of DJ SMA of DEBASER.
* Free el Jimador margaritas!
* Look sharp and hop into the Orange Photography photo booth.
* Munch on free 4505 Meats chicharrones while supplies last.
* All attendees are entered to win prizes from Good Vibrations and Timbuk2
* The Chairman Bao truck will be parked in front of the Make-Out Room! Can you say pork belly?
Muni rider Paul sent us a photo of something completely unexpected at the F-Market terminal at Castro on Sunday:
“Late in the day on Sunday at the F-line terminal at Castro, a Janet Jackson flash mob happened. They blocked the tracks for several minutes, but didn’t cause an undue delay.”
Call it worlds colliding: one of the flash mob dancers was Bryan Goebel, founding editor of Streetsblog SF! So what’s it like to dance in public to Janet’s famous moves? From Bryan:
One of the best experiences of my life (really!) was taking the Rhythm Nation dance class (my first dance class ever!) and then participating in the flash mob Sunday. Even though the choreography was simplified so that more people of all ages and abilities could take part, the classes — which started in January and ended last week — were still grueling for me. Yet, I stuck with it twice a week for three months because everyone was fun and supportive, and the teachers, Julien Rey and Leah Ferrer, were so passionate.
A very talented jewelry designer in the class, Emiko Oye, made our shiny BAFM hat and jacket emblems that stand for Bay Area Flash Mob (in place of Janet Jackson’s 1814 emblems), and we were told to wear all black or resemble, as best we could, Janet Jackson’s outfit in the Rhythm Nation video. Some people who didn’t get a chance to learn the whole dance but wanted to be in the flash mob were invited to learn the last 30 seconds, either in class or through the online tutorial videos, so there could be a growing effect at the end.
The plan was to look like a SWAT team, or security guards, and remain in character before the dance at each location. It was pretty amazing to discover how many people out there recognized our Rhythm Nation outfits, and were pleasantly surprised to see us perform the dance. There were also lots of people who asked, “What is this?” It was so thrilling to see those looks of curiosity turn into smiles, followed by applause. The crowds at the Ferry Building, Union Square, UN Plaza and the Castro plaza seemed to love it.
I certainly never thought I’d be learning this famous choreography, and I’m not the best at it, but I did it to my ability and it felt so good. By the way, we performed in Jane Warner Plaza but the organizers were very careful not to delay the historic streetcars. We managed to fit our performance in between headways.
We’ve heard lots of stories from the passenger’s seats on Muni, but what about stories from the driver’s seat? If you have burning questions for Muni operators, here is your chance to ask them!
This month we are starting a column called, “Ask a Muni Driver.” We have a kind Muni operator who has volunteered to be your source of all things from the driver’s seat. So send us your questions in the comments section and we’ll get them answered for you in our Ask a Driver column.
Never say we don’t do serious journalism here at Muni Diaries: this week we brought you the discovery of the g-spot (previously thought to be the Muni Boob).
For a brief reprieve, here are some beautiful Muni photos, brought to you by the wonderful photographers in our Muni Flickr pool. We shall return to our regular coverage of Muni discoveries Monday.
