Take a look back at the history of the yellow taxi in the Big Apple.
Taxicab drivers await getting through toll booth.
Inspector Patrolman McCarthy shows helper where to place sign for taxi stand.
Crew members of Howard Hughes’ successful around the world flight stand outside of a New York City taxicab. The crew includes radio man Richard Stoddart, flight engineer Edward Lund, navigator Harry Connor, and co-pilot Thomas Thurlow.
Cab driver Betty Fishbein poses for a photograph in her car.
Taxis queue up in Times Square for theater patrons. Take note of the street car in the center lane: surely a faster option than the M42.
Taxicab driver Sandy Britt leans out of cab with sign.
Taxis line up outside the Hotel Commodore in Manhattan.
A fair fare enters one of Manhattan’s new cabs at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. Converted station wagons, two feet shorter than the previous vehicles.
Chubby Greengold sticks sticker on his taxi.
Smile for the taxi driver! Taxicab driver Eric Koberg poses with a camera in a cab. Take note of the cab’s rates: a trip from Times Square to Battery Park would have cost about $1.35.
Cab driver Morris B. Levy feeding pigeons.
A hot New York City summer as cab driver Harry Newman serves a cup of iced tea to a customer.
Hack Bureau Inspector Louis Salerno seals taxicab meter after testing its adjustment to new rates. Inspector John Dunnigan rode in cab to watch adjusted meter.
Mario Lobato opens hood of taxicab.
A taxicab with a medallion is seen on the streets of New York. Medallions were introduced by Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia in 1937, which introduced the official licensing system for cabs used today.
No annoying TV screens in the back? This old trip meter bares little resemblance to the one seen in cabs today.
Taxi driver George Wells shows Darlene Larson the rates for a cab ride.
Taxicab driver Ben Macen poses with his car.
Taxis line up for rides in front of Grand Central Terminal.
Fares go up! Rates have increased from a 25-cent for the first fifth of a mile to 60 cents.
Taxicab driver with dog hanging out of window.
The rates change again! This fare increase bumped the base rate from 90 cents to $1.
Taxicab driver George Blum looks at a “Help me” sign atop a cab. Today, cabbies in trouble can activate an amber light on the rear to alert other drivers of an emergency.
A cab stands broken down on 41st Street with driver Kevin Clement on the roof.
New Yorkers love the subway, but sometimes you just need a cab. A man packs a taxi full with an armchair from a fleamarket along 6th Avenue.
A taxi drives along Times Square.
The Market Diner on 11th Avenue, a popular stop for nighttime cabbies because of parking spots along 43rd Street.
Taxicab driver Earl Johnson sits in his cab, which was the last Checker cab to be driven in New York, while it is on display at Duffy Square in Times Square.
This dog looks pretty in pink as it gets some wind in its face thanks to a taxi.
Two women try to hail a cab on Houston Street in the midst of a downpour.
A yellow cab makes a turn at the intersection of John St. and Broadway downtown.
A woman tries to hail a taxicab on Eighth Ave. on the morning a 48-hour strike began. The number of cabbies on strike, protesting the installation of GPS tracking systems and credit card machines, is disputed and those still working picked up multiple passengers, charging flat-fares based on zones.
Good Samaritan George Yako helps push a cab stuck in the snow in front of Radio City Music Hall during a nor’easter that dumped 26.9 inches of snow in Central Park.
Ray Kottner stands next to his Checker cab. Kottner has been a taxi driver for more than 50 years.
