Muni Diaries: Recent Episodes
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Muni is San Francisco’s deep end: immediate and immersive exposure to strangers, testing our tolerance for other people’s music, aromas, food, volume, attitude, or public habits. Sometimes all of them at the same time. This concept is what brought Muni Diaries to life. It’s also what makes Muni interesting and representative of the city it cuts through. We can still […]
Storyteller Adrianna Tan is an enthusiastic bus rider who has ridden buses in more than 30 countries worldwide. But when she finally moves to San Francisco five years ago, she quickly finds out that, in many ways, our very own Muni is not like all the rest. Listen to her story: Here at Muni Diaries we’ve taken an occasional peek at transit […]
In 2019, storyteller Kurt Schwartzmann told what is still one of my favorite Muni Diaries Live stories about being unhoused and reliant on the kindness of strangers, namely Muni drivers, for temporary warm shelter. In the thick of the pandemic, when we needed it most, he repaid the city with love. That is, he collaborated with artist Deirdre Weinberg on one of the famed Hearts of San Francisco. We had him back at Muni Diaries Live in April, as he is still looking for one Muni operator in particular. Maybe you can help him?
Here’s Kurt:
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Check out his work at www.YellowLineArt.com and follow him on Instagram @yellow_line_art.
Photo: Emily Huston
By school bus, we obviously mean Muni.
We’ve gotten our share of “teens on the bus” stories, but it is a special treat hearing from young folks themselves—thoughtful, civic-minded people who are inspired by public transit to participate and create.
Tanea Lunsford Lynx is Chair of the Spoken Arts Department at Ruth Asawa School of the Arts and one of the artists behind Muni Raised Me, a multimedia exhibition by San Francisco born-and-raised artists exploring a central question: What does Muni mean to the people who grow up riding it? Tanea brought their students to the Muni Raised Me exhibit to perform their own original poetry about Muni in a guerrilla-style spoken word show, and we had the privilege of sitting in to listen and record.
It warms our hearts to see the next generation keeping it transit-oriented. Muni Diaries Live alum Hayden Miller helped navigate a Muni bus in real-time (for real, listen to his story) and articulates his thoughts at SFMTA Board meetings on the state of transit—all while in high school. And we know a new crop of engaged Muni riders, like Tanea’s students, are coming up alongside him.
This episode is the first in a two-part series. In this first episode, we talk with Tanea about the exhibit and the spoken-word event and share some of the student performances.
Listen up:
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Photo: Kat Siegal at Muni Raised Me event
IYKYK: San Francisco doesn’t leave us that easily, even when we leave it. Katie Havercamp and LeBron James the cat (yep) learned it bigtime firsthand, and I’d bet that many people you know have strong feelings on the topic.
Sheila McElroy has spent her professional life studying, writing about, and talking about place: how our sense of it grounds us in history and provides context for how we see, move around, and make sense of the world. In this story, told at Muni Diaries Live in November 2022, Sheila takes us through her personal sense of place and the role it, especially San Francisco, plays in her journey.
Listen up:
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If you didn’t even know we had a podcast until you saw this post, or until an obviously excellent friend with great taste sent it your way, don’t forget to subscribe to the Muni Diaries podcast so you don’t miss another minute of these real-life tales from on and around the bus. We’re on all your favorite podcast-listening apps.
Photo: Emily Huston
What would make you take off your headphones on the bus to talk to a stranger? In this episode, storyteller Alex Randall shares how he started talking to his fellow riders, and how these “Muni chats” changed the way he looks at our city. This episode was recorded at Muni Diaries Live at Rickshaw Stop in November, 2022.
Listen to his story:
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By day, Alex manages a support team at Atlassian, and by evening and weekend, he serves on the board at Z Space, leads walking tours of his favorite San Francisco neighborhoods. He says he takes the 38 Geary often and likes all things San Francisco: history, sports, art, politics, and of course, public transit. You can find him at @ArtrepreneurSF on both Instagram and Twitter.
And don’t forget to subscribe to the Muni Diaries podcast so you don’t miss a minute of these great stories! You can find us on any of your podcast-listening apps.
Photo: Emily Huston
How often do you ask yourself, “What would you do if this happened to you on Muni?” Storyteller Keli Dailey explores that very difficult question on stage at Muni Diaries Live, where she shared a tale about an unexpected turn of events on the bus. Keli is an award-winning journalist, performer and educator. She teaches media classes at the University of San Francisco, Saint Mary’s College of California and Mills College, where she also leads the Communication program.
She says that she believes in the power of comedy to communicate news, and that’s something we can definitely identify with here at Muni Diaries headquarters.
Listen to her story:
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Got a story to tell on the podcast? Email us a short pitch at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com. And don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss an episode!
Photo: Emily Huston
One Halloween evening when ilyse found herself evangelizing the value of public transit, the Muni gods had other plans.
As a Muni operator, Mister Boston, AKA Mike Delia, has seen it all. He’s piloted many of the crosstown lines we know and love, he has been assaulted twice in the name of doing so, and he even had someone try to steal his streetcar once. You might also know him via the limited-edition trading cards bearing his image and […]
That time when a wacky idea to incorporate a Muni shelter into our art show with photographer Julie Michelle turned into a battle for the heart and soul of San Francisco.
Editors Kat Siegal and Sarah Katz-Hyman share why they are so passionate about this city, and how their friendship started at Muni Diaries Live!
If you've lived in San Francisco for any length of time, you can't not know Broke-Ass Stuart. We ask him all about what it's like to write about SF for 20 years.
Becca Henry recounts one wild evening on BART on New Year's Eve before she was due on stage.
We’re back on the storytelling tip with San Francisco native and San Francisco Standard journalist Meaghan Mitchell—first at Muni Diaries Live in April, and now on the podcast. Meaghan shared a life-changing experience from her youth at a 22-Fillmore stop that touches on summer love, physical trauma, her identity as a Black woman, and more. We’ve long been proud of the fact that […]
As spotted by Blair, behold the 26-Valencia enshrined in a mural at Senor Sisig on Valencia St. Though the 26 bus stopped running in 2009, when one person lovingly eulogized it as “The Poor Man’s 14-Mission,” we can certainly remember its “I’ll see you when I see you” presence on the other Mission artery. Blair is always great for a […]
When BART Board Director Janice Li saw a fight break out on the bus, she took matters into her own hands. But what she saw after making a public information request for the bus footage (which anyone can do, BTW) was something else entirely. Listen to her story: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Download You can also watch the story below: Keep […]
Leaving San Francisco for parts north was no small decision for Katie Havercamp, mom of a Muni-riding cat named LeBron James, musician, and bigtime local transit and local history buff. Her experience runs the gamut of grief stages, but, thankfully for her and all of us, never settles into acceptance. Listen to her story: Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Download Also, […]
I find it stressful being the navigator in a regular car, clarifying GPS-delayed directions from the tiny machine—is it the next turn or is it the next next turn? I might as well be guiding us through the solar system. Now imagine trying to do the same for a bus, driving through San Francisco, with strangers who definitely aren’t on […]
This transit enthusiast had no idea that in mere weeks since becoming a Muni operator, he'd be briefing the entire Twitter universe about the ins and outs of driving Muni.
If you are a part of the local Transit Twitter community, you are probably already familiar with their names: Kat Siegal and Sarah Katz-Hyman are joining the Muni Diaries Crew as our new editors!
We celebrated our 14th (!) birthday with another sold-out crowd—no small feat after isolating ourselves for two years—and man, it felt great to hear stories in real life.
Find out who will return on April 7 to defend his title in a live battle of the 5-7-5 variety.
After almost exactly two years of pandemic-induced hiatus, Muni Diaries Live is back at Rickshaw Stop on Thursday, April 7! We're forever changed from the last two years, but people are still moving and shaking around town, and we're here to celebrate that.
We aren't calling 2021 done until we celebrate all of you who submitted a Muni Diaries entry this year. Vote for your favorite today.
One of my favorite things about Muni Diaries is how naturally people share stories or “you won’t believe what happened” anecdotes. Sometimes those come in as longer write-ups or poignant images, but they’re often snack-size snapshots that sneak into our social feeds. From a reader on the Muni Diaries Facebook page: One time I was super hungover trying to get […]
One can't help but smile when they see the Boat Tram, one of the Market Street Railway's most unique and beloved vehicles.
Aruna Lee is the founder of San Francisco-based Volcano Kimchi, whose organic kimchi and sauces are made in her “Fermentation Lab” in the Dogpatch. Aruna grew up in a Buddhist monastery in Korea, where every meal included an assortment of kimchi.
When she arrived in San Francisco in 2001, doing anything related to food was the furthest thing from her mind as she settled into her new chapter. In this episode, Aruna shares the story of how she eventually came back to food, building her small business in a tough town with her childhood memories as inspiration.
Listen to her story:
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You can find Volcano kimchi and sauces at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market, Clement Street Farmer’s Market, Good Eggs, Rainbow Grocery, and more.
We are always looking for stories of people who make San Francisco the beautiful city it is today. If you have a story to share or someone to nominate, email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.
Transcript I’ve been having this dream lately. I’m stuck on a cliff, and I can’t figure out how to get down. In my dream, I’m anxious and frustrated.
Someone told me that you can interpret your dreams by looking at the state of your mind — when you’re having the dream.
I guess in some ways… the anxiety and frustration of being stuck – it feels a lot like where I am. Or where I was, until recently.
One of my earliest memories is from when I was about 7 or 8 years old. I was sitting in my room. It was winter, and cold. The kind of bone-chilling cold you experience in Korea.
There was snow, and everything outside was frozen.
I grew up in a Buddhist temple in the very southern part of South Korea.
The name of the temple is Yaksuam, which means, “Medicine Water Temple.” It’s still there today. On the temple grounds, there’s a spring that runs cold all year round, and that’s where the temple gets its name.
That night I was sitting in my room craving a snack.
Now — what kind of snacks does a Korean Buddhist temple leave lying around for a little kid? Yeah, you guessed it. Kimchi!
Go to any Korean temple and you’ll find crock pots filled with all kinds of fermenting goodies, from cabbage to soy sauce to plums and other fruits and vegetables.
The pots are kept outside, where the freezing winters provide natural refrigeration, while in summer the clay pots keep the kimchi cool.
Well, in some of those jars you’ll also find fermented radishes. And that was what I was craving.
You remember, when you were a kid, and you just wanted this one thing so bad?
For me, all I had to do was slide open the temple door, tiptoe out into the snow, take the lid off the pot as quietly as I could, and pull out a juicy piece of radish kimchi.
It was pure joy.
Even today, I can still feel the icy kimchi juice dripping down my chin. I can taste the radish – it’s sour, spicy, and salty flavors filling my mouth at the same time. And of course…I still remember the crunch. It was so, so satisfying.
I was ordained as a Buddhist nun after I graduated high school. I shaved my head, spent four years in seminary school studying the texts, rituals and learning how to be a nun.
(Korea actually is one of only two countries in East Asia that officially ordains women in the Buddhist tradition. The other is Taiwan.)
Then I spent the next 10 years living in different monasteries. It feels like a lifetime ago.
I never thought I would do anything else. I definitely never imagined that I’d be working with food.
I hated being in the kitchen.
By the time I was in my early twenties, food was just something that kept me going.
I was surrounded by some of the most amazing food that the world has to offer. If you’ve never had Korean temple food, you really should. I didn’t fully appreciate it at the time, but Korean temple food is as simple as it is sublime.
But at the time, I didn’t really care.
Then, in late 2001 – I remember it was just a couple of months after 9/11 – I arrived in San Francisco.
It’s a long story but the short version is that I met someone while traveling in India. I left the temple, got married, had a kid, and found work. I was a new mom, with a family to help feed, and so, really for the first time in my life, I started cooking, and cooking, and cooking.
One of my early inspirations was actually Jaques Pepin, the French Chef. He was so easy going and charming on screen. His recipes were simple, fresh, tasty. I felt inspired. I watched his show every week on PBS.
People liked my cooking… or at least that’s what they told me. I cooked for family and friends. And I just sort of naturally started to make the dishes I grew up eating. All kinds of Korean small plates — called banchan in Korean. I’d sauteé, boil, fry, steam… you name it.
Korean food hadn’t been “discovered” yet. Most people knew about Korean barbecue. There were a couple of popular spots in the city. But Korean temple food is different. It’s vegetarian, for starters. And it’s more subtle, with a lot of the flavor coming from fermentation.
But cooking wasn’t the only thing I did. When I first got to San Francisco I spent weeks wandering around the Haight Ashbury. I loved the neighborhood. It was so open, so different. I took ESL classes at John Adams and then I would go down to the Haight and just walk around.
Eventually, I started working for a nonprofit that supported ethnic media. I worked with the Korean media mainly, but also with Black, Latino and other Asian media.
It was an amazing experience. It opened my eyes – I was so new to this country, and through my work I was able to connect with all these different communities in the Bay Area.
I also made a lot of friends. And one of them is Eugenia of Muni Diaries fame.
Unfortunately, the nonprofit lost its funding. It was a few years after the financial crisis in 2008. Eventually I lost my job.
It was such a blow. I had never been fired before. Of course, I had also never really had a job before either. So I had to figure out what to do next. And the only thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to work for myself.
So…I began to make kimchi.
I began experimenting with different recipes and techniques. I watched lots of Korean Youtube videos. And I read every book I could find on fermentation. I remember there were literally jars of fermenting stuff everywhere in our house back then.
Eventually I took a batch into Rainbow Grocery. I love Rainbow. They opened the doors to me. I had created a simple logo from a drawing my son did, put together a basic label, and brought some jars of my vegan cabbage kimchi in to see if they would be interested. And they were! They were my first buyer.
I remember seeing my product there for the first time. Suddenly it felt possible, like, I could do this. I could create a company.
…and the rest as they say is history.
I launched Volcano Kimchi in 2015 and since then I’ve been fermenting like crazy trying to perfect my technique and grow the business.
And it has been an amazing journey. After Rainbow took on my product, I started selling my kimchi at the Farmer’s Market in San Francisco, which has sort of become like my church here. It’s my community, it’s where I go to connect, to be inspired and to try out new ideas. I’ve literally fed thousands of people at the farmer’s market with my kimchi.
I also found a permanent home for the business. From the beginning I had been working from a shared commercial kitchen. But at the start of the pandemic I found this amazing location that had just become available.
It’s in the Dog Patch neighborhood. It’s big, it has tall ceilings and huge windows — I can see the entire Bay when I make my kimchi.
And I have a team now – an amazing group of mostly immigrant women. They are full of creative energy and passion.
So yes, things have begun to move. I’m still small, tiny really. But I can feel the momentum. We’re actually about to launch a new product that I believe will turn my little fermentation family into something much more substantial.
I won’t bore you with the details, but I’m excited. And nervous. I can see the potential, and the opportunity. It’s like that radish kimchi in the pot, just on the other side of the temple door.
I had the same dream the other night.
I was still on that cliff. And I was feeling nervous, and anxious.
But this time was different. I knew I was dreaming. In THIS dream, I remembered that I’ve been here before. So I made a decision. I let go, spread my arms and flew.
Proving that San Francisco is still a place that celebrates grassroots efforts, locals Erica Messner and Amanda Legge have launched a new magazine about our city, The San Franciscan. Launching a magazine (a print one, at that) is no small feat, especially as the pandemic pushed us farther from each other. In this episode of the podcast, Erica and Amanda call us back around the campfire to share how they made their dream into reality, despite a little legal hiccup from their other favorite urban mag.
Amanda and Erica have a new issue out, and the cover features a scene from our preferred mode of transportation. You can get a copy of it, featuring work from 30+ local artists and writers, at local favs spots like Green Apple Books, Dog Eared Books, and Alley Cat Bookstores and Gallery.
Listen to their story:
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In their retelling, Amanda and Erica mention this cartoon—which was (foolishly!) not accepted by The New Yorker—that started it all.
We’re so glad to see friends getting together to create something for the city we all love—it certainly sounds familiar to us here at Muni Diaries HQ.
As always, we are looking for stories about people who love and care about our city. If you have someone to nominate to be on our podcast, email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com.
After shuttering for more than a year since the start of the pandemic, San Francisco venues finally opened their doors to indoor events last week. We talk to Dan Strachota, the talent buyer and managing partner at Rickshaw Stop to hear about their first indoor show about a week ago. Rickshaw Stop is also the home of Muni Diaries Live, so we were especially relieved to know that the venue is back in business.
Dan shares the behind-the-scenes details of their first show (featuring local bands Zola and Zelma Stone), and all the unexpected things that happen after 16 months in hibernation.
Dan has been the managing partner at Rickshaw Stop for nearly a decade, and the talent buyer for 17 years and counting. He has been an outspoken advocate for independent venues in San Francisco.
Listen to the interview:
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We’re always looking for stories from people who love and care about San Francisco. If you have a story to share, or want to nominate someone to be on the podcast, email us at muni.diaries.sf@gmail.com. And keep up with your Muni musing with us on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
What can history teach us about this pivotal moment as we drop most COVID-related restrictions in San Francisco? Between mask-ne treatments and socializing awkwardly, we chatted with Chris Carlsson, the director of Shaping San Francisco about his experience and his perspective on our reawakening city.
Chris is a writer, San Francisco historian, tour guide, and writer. He recently published a new book, Hidden San Francisco: A Guide to Lost Landscapes, Unsung Heroes and Radical Histories. Chris has seen a few cycles of San Francisco history since the 1970s. He was involved in many activist groups in the city, including a group that modified billboards about Muni fare in the 1980s. Who knew we would still be arguing about Muni fares today.
You might think he has seen it all, but in our conversation about his new book, we found out that this historian is anything but jaded about the future of San Francisco. “The more you understand history, the more you realize there are constant moments of possibility,” he told us—and I’m inclined to believe it’s true.
Listen to his conversation with Muni Diaries here:
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We are looking forward to hearing your tales about returning to life, work, and other ways that living in San Francisco means to you now. Submit your own story or photo by tagging us @munidiaries on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Photo by FoundSF.
I commuted on the streetcar from downtown to Fisherman’s Wharf for seven years with a dense hodgepodge of locals, tourists, 30-child field trips, and the occasional iguana named Skippy. The experience didn’t often match the old-world charm and good intentions, so complaining incessantly about the F-Market/Wharves became my theme. As a newly minted San Franciscan, it was my duty to find a bug for my bonnet and take to the internet with that rage.
But lots of strained relationships improve with time. I can hear the distinctive “whrrrrrrrrrrr honk honk” from my apartment as streetcars fly along the tracks, and can even tell the difference between the PCCs and the wooden, Milanese ones that kick like bucking broncos. I went public with my change of heart, calling it my favorite line during the TotalSF installment of Betabrand Podcast theater.
So let me acknowledge again that I’ve gotten over my attitude problem and am thrilled that the streetcars are back in commission after a long, covid-prompted hibernation. Check out these recent photos from our enthusiastic transit community, and tag us in your own happy snaps of normalcy @munidiaries on Facebook, Insta, or Twitter.
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The story behind @boattramsf AKA Boat Boi, as relayed by Chris Arvin, remains a Muni Diaries Live crowd favorite. Listen for it soon on the Muni Diaries Podcast!
See you in the spring @boattramsf (and @munidiaries live). Thank you, @chrisarvinsf @that_mc @rickshawstopsf and erryone not on Twitter who turned up and turned it out pic.twitter.com/il3ttm7cyb
— Tara Ramroop (@Tara_Ramroop) November 3, 2019
Featured photo by @vickys_photo and @panobug
San Francisco is approximately 37% AAPI*, and here at Muni Diaries, we are 2/3 Asian women, the first-generation American children of immigrants, and proud of our heritage. We’ve spent more than a decade documenting life in San Francisco because we love our city. But that love letter can be harder to write in the shadow of violent crimes against Asians in San Francisco and a mass shooting targeting Asian women in Atlanta.
Like all people of color, we were hardly surprised—this is the reality of being non-white in the United States. But we were horrified for the victims, current and future. As Asian women, public transit enthusiasts, and longtime urban adventurers, we wonder how easily it could have been one of us.
Even in our tiny universe of collecting your stories on Muni, race has been a constant. We started the conversation about race on Muni Diaries in 2009 after an audience member made fun of a Chinese stereotype at our live show (henceforth named the Muni Chicken Story Incident). And we continue having these conversations with one another and within our community today.
Early in the pandemic, our Asian-American readers asked, “Do you feel that people are glaring at you on Muni?” We were almost relieved because we were experiencing the same.
The issue of race remains one of our most frequent editorial judgements in story submissions; ethnicity is often included as a descriptor when relaying a tale, even if it doesn’t add anything to the story. It usually seems unintentional, but from our perspective behind the scenes, it highlights how descriptors of “others” are noteworthy, whereas descriptors of the perceived default—white—are not.
Every incident reminds us that we can’t only be philosophically against AAPI hate, we actually have to do something about it every single day. We will continue to make Muni Diaries a fair and inclusive place to talk about our city, and we encourage you to support these San Francisco-based Asian-American organizations who are on the front lines of advocacy.
- Asian Women’s Shelter
- Asian Law Caucus
- API Legal Outreach
- National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum (Bay Area Chapter)
- Chinese for Affirmative Action
- Chinatown Community Development Center
- Chinese Progressive Association
- San Francisco Chinese Hospital
- Self-Help for the Elderly
If you have other organizations to add, and other actions to share, our comments section and inbox are always open to your point of view.
Photo by Right Angle Images.