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.")

The future is on its way to T-Chinatown Station

February 16, 2017 eugenia 2 comments

When is the future coming? In this case, it’s already on its way from San Jose. This photo came from reader Cameron Rogers, who spotted this T train being transported on the freeway. Notice the sign? The Chinatown station hasn’t even been built yet!

In case you haven’t been around Chinatown lately, the new station will be on Stockton and Washington (just around the corner from Good Mong Kok Bakery where you can buy the best shrimp dumplings in the city—seriously). The scheduled opening of the station is December 2018.

Hat tip: Todd of the always-on-point Bernalwood.

Category: Photos Tags: T-Third

Having your first kiss … on Muni

February 14, 2017 eugenia Leave a comment

Whether you’re a happy observant of Valentine’s Day or you’d rather set fire to photos of your ex, today’s Muni Diaries episode is probably something we can all get behind. Local filmmaker Ariel Dovas shared the story of his first kiss, and because he’s a San Francisco native, of course this happened on Muni! Cue all the jitters, nerves, and where-do-I-put-my-lips moments.

Ariel was kind enough to dig up some old photos of himself. Teenage awkwardness seems completely adorable now.

Ariel is also the creative director at BAYCAT (Bayview-Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology) and co-founder of the collaborative art space The Secret Alley. This story was recorded at Muni Diaries Live at the Make-Out Room on April 22, 2011.

Listen to the episode here:
iTunes
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P.S.: Won’t you be our valentine? Subscribe and rate the podcast on iTunes and melt our hearts …

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

Bad Books Party, featuring books too embarrassing to read on Muni

February 9, 2017 eugenia Leave a comment

What books would you be too embarrassed to read on Muni? Fifty Shades of Grey? The Da Vinci Code? This Saturday, we will be at Green Apple Books On the Park, putting aside our dignity to do a dramatic reading of awesomely terrible books (that you probably shouldn’t read in public).

In case you’re wondering where to get the book in the photo above (from Bored Panda), I hate to disappoint you, but this is comedian Scott Rogoswky, who made some hilarious fake book covers to read on the New York City subway. Mmm. What wouldn’t I do for a dramatic reading of “101 Penis-Lengthening Tips”?

J.W. Friedman and Chris Collision, the funny hosts of the popular podcast I Don’t Even Own a Television, will be bringing a selection of their favorite (and least favorite!) bad books to read from.

Special guests (who are bringing their own selection of terrible books):

Lemon Lemon of The F Plus podcast (Find him on @TheFPlus and @AhoyLemon)
Lauren Parker of Erotic Friend Fiction
Niko and Lauren of Sunday School Dropouts

… and Muni Diaries editor Eugenia, representing nine years of cringe moments on the bus, thanks to y’all.

Bonus: Bring your own bad books for a round of Bad Books Russian Roulette!

Bad Books Party
Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.—9 p.m.
Green Apple Books on the Park, 1231 9th Ave. in San Francisco

Category: Funny: Muni LOLs

New Muni Art by local artists unveiled on 100 buses

January 13, 2017 eugenia Leave a comment

A hundred Muni buses are being turned into mobile galleries for five local artists, voted by the public, in a project called Muni Art. You might remember this project last year, and this year SFMTA, Supervisor London Breed, and nonprofit SF Beautiful brought the project for another year.

This year’s winners:

“Teens of SF” by Monica Tiulescu (606 votes)
“Bit by Bit” by Lillian Shanahan (446 votes)
“Las Historias” by Luis Pinto (443 votes)
“City Walks” by Counterpoint Studio (Peter Tonningsen and Lisa Levine) (443 votes)
“Sight Seeing” by Todd Kurnat (443 votes)

Last year there were 50 buses displaying the winning artists’ work, and this year the project has doubled the number of buses. Here are this year’s winning artists:

Teens of SF by Monica Tiulescu

Bit by Bit by Lillian Shanahan

Las Historias by Luis Pinto

City Walks by Counterpoint Studio (Peter Tonningsen and Lisa Levine)

Sight Seeing by Todd Kurnat

Here’s a look at last year’s Muni Art winners. Have you seen the new art on your buses yet?

Category: News

Adorable grandparents give gift of 1970s Fast Passes

January 12, 2017 eugenia Leave a comment

Grandparents are the best, especially when they bust out some serious vintage goodies like these amazing Fast Passes. Over on Reddit, we found this collection of 1970s Fast Passes given as a gift from some seriously awesome grandparents.

I mean, just look at these designs. Somehow I think our grandchildren aren’t going to be too excited when we dig up our Clipper cards to pass onto them.

Here’s the whole lot:

We love people who hang onto cool vintage stuff like this. Here are even more old Fast Passes through the years.

Got a story or vintage Muni goods from your time capsule? Muni Diaries only exists on your submissions! Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com is always open!

Category: Aww: Cute on Muni Tags: fast pass, muni time capsule

Trees down, trains stuck, and general transit mayhem from last night’s rainstorm

January 11, 2017 eugenia 2 comments

Last night’s rain apocalypse caused a gnarly evening of commute on both BART and Muni. A tree fell on the tracks of the J-Church train in the photo above, blocking both directions. And a power outage shortly after 7 p.m. blocked all trains between Van Ness and Church, reports the San Francisco Examiner.

Earlier that evening, if you were amongst the evening commute crowd on BART, you’ll know that the fallen tree near the Balboa Station between 24th Street and Balboa station caused a BART outage that snowballed into this scene at BART, where riders were scaling the broken escalator:

Chaos erupts in the #MissionStreet #BART station as storm related delays frustrate riders: #SanFrancisco: https://t.co/2YXMVu4GEH. pic.twitter.com/KdtMvT4pMh

— ABC7 News (@abc7newsbayarea) January 11, 2017

24th Mission Street Station Chaos. #SFBART #BART #SF .@SFBART pic.twitter.com/b5tlV3lUXz

— Charlie K. Perkins (@PerKerry) January 11, 2017

Sanfransokyo @nbcbayarea #sfbart pic.twitter.com/QAGRa8bs58

— Aleksey Smolenchuk (@lxe) January 11, 2017

As of 9 p.m. last night, service was still shut down between Daly City and 24th Street Station, says SFGate. Rescue trains came to get the stranded passengers to free Muni shuttles, reports SFist. In the East Bay, AC Transit buses were also backed up due to a power line falling near a school, reports SFGate.

Got commute updates for your fellow riders? Tag us on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Our email inbox muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com is always open. Stay safe out there, everybody.

Photo by @ongardie. Featured photo by SFist.