DJ Steve Fabus has been called “one of the founding fathers of San Francisco’s gay disco scene,” and we were lucky enough to welcome him recently into our podcast studio. In today’s San Francisco Diaries episode, he shares a story many of us have heard or seen secondhand but was 100-percent real life for him. He moved to the city as a young gay man in the 1970s. At the time, he said he and his friends felt there was “power in numbers” as the gay movement gained momentum…to say nothing about “this amazing party going on,” he recalls.
Fabus has enjoyed a long career that spans from the disco era to today. He started DJing parties at his own flat, just around the block from Harvey Milk’s camera store. Harvey Milk, disco legend Sylvester, and other counterculture luminaries like Peter Berlin, the Fabulous Cockettes, and Pristine Condition became regulars at his events.
As Fabus found popularity and success spinning at venues like the Trocadero Transfer and I-Beam, the AIDS crisis also started to affect many people around him. In today’s episode, he describes the evening he found himself in the DJ booth providing the soundtrack to Sylvester’s farewell party.
Subscribe to the Muni Diaries podcast so you don’t miss an episode—and hear stories like these live on stage in just two weeks! Our live show is back on Nov. 2 at Rickshaw Stop. Tickets for Muni Diaries Live are on sale now.
On Instagram, rider @trasteverekev spotted the newest banned activity on BART: cross country skiing. I think we can agree that might be a bad idea on a moving vehicle. With no snow. Nice job hacking the sign, whoever this guerrilla graphic artist may be!
Got more important transit news? We want to hear all about it! Seize the day and add your commute story to Muni Diaries! Tag us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com. Oh, and our live show is back on Nov. 2! Hear true and hilarious Muni tales (with or without cross country skiing). Tickets for Muni Diaries Live is on sale now.
Before the area was named the AIDS Memorial Grove in the 1990’s, San Franciscans knew the wooded grove as DeLaveaga Dell. To Leef Smith, the area held special memories because his father was a city gardener who took care of the city’s parks. In today’s San Francisco Diaries podcast episode, Leef shares his childhood memories of growing up in San Francisco as the family of a city gardener, and how his childhood and this beautiful garden change when the AIDS crisis hit San Francisco.
Leef spent his childhood in DeLaveaga Dell playing with other children, wearing his mom’s homemade costumes and celebrating birthdays and other occasions there. As he was coming of age during a tumultuous in San Francisco, he recalls how a teacher came out to his class, and how DeLaveaga Dell became a symbol of the times to come.
Leef kindly shared some of his childhood photos from De Laveaga Dell with us. Do you have stories of San Francisco during this time period? We want to know! Share your stories with us at muni.diarie.sf@gmail.com.
Want to hear more stories like this live? We are having two events this fall: a live podcast recording at the Betabrand Podcast Theater on Thursday, Oct. 3, and our Muni Diaries Live fall show at Rickshaw Stop on Saturday, Nov. 2. Tickets are on sale now!
We uncovered thousands of Muni stories by exploring every nook and cranny—ew, not literally—of the commuter experience. Our next step is doing the same about the entire city. Those of you who’ve been following our podcast know this as our sister project, San Francisco Diaries, and it exists because we know that even after nearly 12 years of collecting stories, we’re just scratching the surface (also ew, not literally) of San Francisco living.
We’re returning to Betabrand Podcast Theater on Thursday, Oct. 3, for an evening dedicated to “hidden San Francisco” with two special guests who have walked 49 miles of our city.
Kristine Poggioli and coauthor Carolyn Eidson became the first people known to have walked San Francisco’s historic 49 Mile Scenic Drive—not in one day (like these crazy cats at the Chronicle!), over one year. They did it by dividing the route into 17 bite-sized walks. At our live podcast event, we’ll chat with them about what they’ve found on their walk, and invite you to share some of your hidden gems too. Tickets are only $5, so grab one today.
When you see something you really want on Craigslist but you don’t have a moving truck, do you look at your Clipper Card and think, I can do this? We know at least one person did, and we have the footage to prove it. Rider @captum.cdxv tipped us off to this video of an ambitious mover who somehow hauled a giant dresser on this Muni train. Things went a bit dicey when he tried to exit at Civic Center station, though.
The dresser was so tall that it was stuck at the train door. Apparently, for 20 to 30 minutes, more and more SFMTA station agents arrived to figure out what to do. Presumably somebody finally yelled, “Pivot!” and the dresser was out the door at last.
We’ve seen some large and interesting cargo on Muni like this giant bubble wrap and a mattress, even. But this dresser takes the cake in size and awkwardness. Thanks again, @captum.cdxv, for this latest addition to the Strange Cargo report!
Did you know Muni Diaries is also a podcast? We are doing a live recording of our podcast next Thursday, Oct. 3, at the Betabrand Podcast Theater! The theme is “Hidden San Francisco,” and our special guests, Carolyn Eidson and Kristine Poggioli, are the first known people to have walked San Francisco’s scenic 49 Miles route. Tickets are only $5 and comes with free wine. See you there!
If you have other important rider news to report, we want to hear all about it! Seize the day and add your commute story to Muni Diaries! Tag us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.
Our fall show is back! We’re bringing Muni Diaries Live back to the Rickshaw Stop in Hayes Valley, where you’ll hear true and hilarious only-in-SF stories and experience the Muni Haiku Battle. Champion MC Allen steps back into the spotlight to defend his (inflatable) crown. Join us in celebrating all the hilarity, delight, and weirdness that happens on public transit in San Francisco.
Our stellar lineup:
Annette Mullaney is a standup comic based in San Francisco. She was named a “comic to catch” by The San Francisco Chronicle and has performed at the Portland Comedy Festival, Detroit Women of Comedy Festival, and the Out of Bounds Festival. Her comedy is self-deprecating, feminist, existentialist, smart, vulgar, and full of big words to prove she’s been to grad school.
George McCalmanis an artist and creative director based in San Francisco. Trained as a philosophy-focused fine artist at St John’s University, the Caribbean-born designer had a 14-year editorial magazine career before opening the doors of his creative branding studio, McCalman.Co, in 2011. In 2016, he resuscitated a dormant fine-art calling and began obsessively illustrating, dreaming ,and painting everything he saw. The monthly “Observed” column, which he writes, designs and illustrates, debuted the same year. Additionally, George teaches graphic design and illustration at California College of the Arts.
Jefferson Bergey is professional musician in Oakland. He is a regular performer in San Francisco’s Bawdy Storytelling for which he writes custom songs for creator and host—and beloved Muni Diaries Live alum—Dixie De La Tour. He’s performed at Punchline SF for SF Sketchfest and even some unlikely venues, such as the JCC of San Francisco. His music is regularly featured on the award-winning Bawdy Storytelling Podcast and has appeared on Kevin Allison’s wildly popular RISK! podcast.
Maureen Bogues is a writer, editor, speaker, dog nerd and Beethoven obsessive. She loves helping people find their creative voice and writing plays. Her stories have been featured in Beyond Borders Storytelling.
MC Allen, alongside his two children, has ridden every Muni route end to end in a single summer. His next Muni endeavor is writing a poem for every route. As our reigning haiku champion, he is well on his way. You can find these every week in the Bay City Beacon.
Molly Martin is a longtime activist and Bernal Heights resident. She was an organizer of Occupy Bernal, which saved many homes in the neighborhood from foreclosure. Molly is also an activist for women in the trades, and is working on a book about the history of women construction workers in the Bay Area.
Wonder Dave is a writer, comedian and performer from Minneapolis, MN, now living in California. He has toured the country performing at poetry venues, schools, cabarets, science fiction conventions, burlesque shows, bowling alleys and independent wrestling shows. He has been a featured storyteller on the Risk podcast. Dave’s poetry has been published in anthologies by Write Bloody, Lethe Press, and Sibling Rivalry Press.
