In 1907, businessman Harry N. Allen started the New York Taxicab Company, bringing the first gas-powered cabs to New York City. These 600 cabs, imported from France, were red and green! After a few years, two big cab companies, one in Chicago (Hertz, 1910) and the other in Ney York (Rockwell, 1912), decided that yellow was the way to go, with both ultimately contributing to the tradition of yellow cabs in New York City. According to a popular account, Rockwell chose yellow to please his wife Nettie, who favored the color. Moreover in 1967, recognizing the need to distinguish between medallion taxis and the rest of the cabs, a law was passed to help New Yorkers tell the difference. The law mandated that all medallion cabs be painted yellow, but it’s fair to say that it was the ideas of Hertz and Rockwell that paved the way for cabs to be yellow specifically. Here is an artwork for all the travel lovers, reminding them of this classic NY icon.
