Pillow Talk on the 49-Van Ness
Photo by juicyrai
Sometimes Muni seems like San Francisco’s living room.
I settled into a seat and the man next to me, a large scruffy older guy carrying a box of Chinese leftovers, pointed to the couple and said, “Hey, what are those?” “Pillows,” the girl said. “How much are they?” the big guy asked. The girl, a little uncomfortable already, said, “Oh we got them on sale.”
Where? The big guy wanted to know. The boyfriend tried to fend off all the questions about these shiny new pillows, but the big guy really wanted to know everything about them. “Well I hope they are comfortable. You guys look like newlyweds and you’ll probably be testing them out a lot! It’s like buying a new car, you gotta test the ride, you know what I mean?!” The people around him laughed and the big guy launched into a different conversation with another guy about cars as we passed by the car dealerships on Van Ness.
The young couple seemed relieved that the attention was off of them. By this time a new crop of passengers got onto the bus and I heard one of them say, “Hey, what’s in those boxes? Pillows? Where’d you buy those?”
A whole new thread of conversation about foam pillows was being started among the new strangers in the front of the bus. The big guy was still deep in his car conversation and I thought, Hey, this is San Francisco’s living room.
BART station ad: Business name fail?
BART rider Lisa asks, “Worst business name ever?” We’re pretty sure that Harry Butts Plumbing ranks higher. But we’ll take this late entry.
Also, are they saying, “Munch on me, Berkeley,” or, “Munch on me Berkeley”? There’s a difference, ya know?
Muni News: New SFMTA chief welcomed, delayed, Muni forum, SFMTA merch
Photo by blarfiejandro
- S.F. officers involved in parolee’s shooting IDd (SFGate)
- Welcome, Ed Reiskin! (Market Street Railway)
- Millions in savings unclaimed; after audits, Muni revealed $20 million excess overtime (SF Public Press)
- Reset SF Hot Button Series Forum on Muni Reform, Aug. 23 (Phil Ting’s Reset SF)
- SFMTA Finally to Offer Officially Branded Merch (SF Weekly)
- BART protests force new Muni director, supervisor to ride aboveground (SF Examiner)
Capturing Every Muni Photo Op: Q&A with Mike Dillon
All Photos by Mike Dillon
Tell us a little about yourself and how you got into photography.
I’m just your friendly neighborhood microbiologist by day, and that guy who won’t stop taking pictures of everything the rest of the time. Originally from Washington State (the side that no one has ever heard of, where it doesn’t rain), I’ve been in the Bay Area for about five years now because, well, this is kinda the place you go if you’re a microbiologist. Plus, who wouldn’t want to live in San Francisco?
In the last few years, I’ve been itching to find an artistic outlet. I spent some time toying around with photography using a couple cheap point and shoot cameras, but never really got into it. I’m the type of person who, once I commit to something, will go all out on it, but I need to really commit to it first. So one day a bit over a year ago, I finally just went for it and picked up a dSLR and hit the streets with it.
Let’s just say there was a bit of a learning curve: I think I got two to five photos I actually liked out of the first six months. Over the last year or so, I’ve gradually learned the settings and received a ton of inspiration from a number of great local photographers, many of whom have had photos featured on Muni Diaries before me. I’m still new to this with a lot to learn, but I’m working on it by just getting my camera out to take photos every day and doing my best to meet and learn from members of the amazing San Francisco photography community.
Around the World: Transit Props
Images: Tara Ramroop. Vive le Metro!
My personal favorite is this Victorian Art Nouveau Metro entrance in Montmartre, Paris:
Most recently, we found this from our spotless, polite neighbors to the north: transit-rider etiquette in Vancouver. We have to wonder: does this work up there? Because it’s suspiciously akin to our own unspoken rules, broken day in and day out.
What are your international transit favorites? Wouldn’t it be nice to make it on the transit radar for something undeniably cool, like, oh, free puppies at all odd-numbered line stops?
Update (2:34 p.m.): A reader noted on le Facebook Wall that SF cable cars perhaps count toward our international fame, because those are obviously on plenty of people’s transit radars. Indeedily they are, and we love the Victorian relics of old San Francisco. For this post, I suppose we’re looking for something more today, such as, OH, puppies at every stop or ticket-purchasing via cell phone. (I’m selling it too hard now, right? Now we will never get puppies.)