{"id":38564,"date":"2025-11-05T03:46:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T03:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/38564\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T03:46:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T03:46:12","slug":"day-238-at-the-16th-st-plaza-pinky-and-his-plushies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/38564\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 238 at the 16th St. Plaza: Pinky and his plushies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pinky Midili is a stuffed animal-collecting, heavy metal-loving, tutu-wearing, self-proclaimed \u201cbiker rock star.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born Ronald Albert Midili, Pinky got his nickname from a pink one-piece tutu that he\u2019s often seen wearing around the neighborhood. He spent the last six years living in Arizona and traveling coast-to-coast in a \u201cbig\u201d RV. Now, he lives at Jazzie\u2019s Place, a shelter in the Mission District for LGBTQ+ people.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like big things. Big RVs, big men, big cakes,\u201d Pinky said on Tuesday morning. Add to this: big stuffed animals. As he sat in a wheelchair on the 16th Street BART Plaza, at least eight were visible about his person, several strapped to his lap with a bungee cord. The rest of his collection, he said, he keeps in a storage unit, along with several musical instruments that he knows how to play, including a guitar and piano.<\/p>\n

The nearby alleyways and streets around the plaza remained generally clear in the morning. People lounged around the BART entrance on the northeast plaza, while a crowd of around a dozen men smoked at the southwest plaza.<\/p>\n

At 6 p.m., the southwest BART Plaza where Pinky had spent his morning was only slightly more crowded than it had been earlier.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The northeast side of Mission Street, meanwhile, was host to dozens of vendors \u2014\u00a0selling various wares on the sidewalk, as loud music blared over a speaker. Street food vendors had popped up as well, catering to\u00a0 commuters moving through the area.<\/p>\n

Pinky, however, was no longer around.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day Pinky had cheerfully introduced his menagerie: His \u201cnumber one\u201d plush, (a green frog named \u201cFroggy Pooh\u201d). A round purple rabbit, endearingly known as \u201cBoing,\u201d which he said had been gifted to him by a preacher for his birthday.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pinky\u2019s stuffed animals \u201cFroggy Pooh\u201d and \u201cBoing\u201d sit on his lap on Nov. 4, 2025. Photo by Mariana Garcia.<\/p>\n

As two nuns who walked through the BART Plaza stopping to chat with people, Pinky smiled and waved. \u201cThese ladies know me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody knows me. Yeah, I\u2019m very famous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The 62-year-old\u2019s friendly demeanor and playful appearance hid the fact that Pinky has endured a lot in his personal life. He lost his mom a year ago, but couldn\u2019t see her before she died because he was in the hospital for congestive heart failure, a condition for which there is no cure.<\/p>\n

He patted his eyes dry with a crumpled paper napkin every time he mentioned his mother. \u201cHer death was the hardest feeling. And I don\u2019t think about it because it hurts too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for his health issues, he acknowledged them with less concern. He takes medication for his heart, which is too weak to get surgery on. He also said he has lung problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was supposed to die a year and a half ago. I feel fine,\u201d he said with a raspy chuckle. He said he was going to meet with a palliative care team later in the day \u2014\u00a0they were working on finding him a place to live where he could have his own room.<\/p>\n

Vincent, a friend, walked over to Pinky with a large spliff and a pack of cigarettes, taking a puff from the former before handing it off to Pinky, who took a few hits before a coughing fit ensued. The cigarette he saved in his left hand for later.<\/p>\n

Northeast plaza<\/p>\n

\"\"10:22 a.m 11\/4 northeast plaza, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"People5:41 p.m. 11\/4, northeast plaza, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:47 p.m. 11\/4, northeast plaza, Photo by Mariana Garcia<\/p>\n

Southwest plaza<\/p>\n

\"\"10:22 a.m. 11\/4, southwest plaza, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:42 p.m. 11\/4 southwest plaza, Photo by Mariana Garcia<\/p>\n

Wiese Street<\/p>\n

\"\"9:56 a.m. 11\/4, Wiese Street, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:45 p.m. 11\/4 Wiese Street, Photo by Mariana Garcia<\/p>\n

Capp Street<\/p>\n

\"\"10:21 a.m. 11\/4 Capp Street looking north from 16th Street. Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:49 p.m. 11\/4, Capp Street, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"\"10:21 a.m. 11\/4, Capp Street looking south from 16th Street. Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:50 p.m. 11\/4 Capp Street, Photo by Mariana Garcia<\/p>\n

Julian Avenue<\/p>\n

\"\"9:57 a.m. 11\/4, Julian Avenue, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"\"10:02 a.m. 11\/4, Julian Avenue looking south toward 16th Street. Photo by Mariana Garcia\"\"10:16 a.m. 11\/4, Julian Avenue looking north toward 14th Street. Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:43 p.m. 11\/4, Julian Avenue, Photo by Mariana Garcia<\/p>\n

Caledonia Street<\/p>\n

\"\"9:01 a.m. 11\/4, Caledonia Street looking south from 16th. Photo by Mariana Garcia\"\"9:58 a.m. 11\/4, Caledonia Street, Photo by Mariana Garcia\"A5:44 p.m. 11\/4 Caledonia Street, Photo by Mariana Garcia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pinky Midili is a stuffed animal-collecting, heavy metal-loving, tutu-wearing, self-proclaimed \u201cbiker rock star.\u201d Born Ronald Albert Midili, Pinky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38565,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[7308,101,103,102,104,106,105],"class_list":{"0":"post-38564","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-16th-street-bart","9":"tag-san-francisco","10":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","11":"tag-san-francisco-news","12":"tag-sf","13":"tag-sf-headlines","14":"tag-sf-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38564\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}