Author Topic: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)  (Read 13679 times)

Offline BLeafe

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My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« on: September 23, 2016, 01:25:57 PM »
While I was a full-time college student, I was also the midnight shift at Blue Cab in Teaneck. I was the driver and dispatcher, working out of a gas station that was closed at night. There was only me in an unwindowed back room and a caged monkey named Cappie - the owner's pet - in the front room. I was praying for the phone not to ring, so I could get my chemistry and physics homework done before 8am class.

We got calls from Teaneck, Englewood and Hackensack. After about a year, Hackensack decided that Blue Cab drivers had to have a license to do business in the city and that meant bringing in a photo to put on it.

My personal photographer at the time was the photo booth at Woolworth's on Main St. I selected the photo that I hated the least and dropped it off. I felt bad that I provided such a cheap photo for what surely would be a magnificent license from the city of Hackensack...................until I got it.

The important document turned out to be an unwallet-sized 3"x5" typed and stamped index card with a handwritten year on it. And the photo was securely affixed with SIX staples - the height of early 70s technology.

Initially, I kept the license for the possible local historical importance of the HPD names on it, but now it's also because of the hair that needed SIX staples to hold it down.





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Offline johnny g

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2016, 01:46:58 PM »
Nice!! What a great shot!   I also did a taxi stint for a year in town, my license was taken at the police station though. I wish I still had it (1991-92)
I loved being in town, was easy for me since I knew all the streets...except for the mid-day food shopping fares...the joke was "Two dollar trips, and no tips...call me mr. C-Town" haha

Offline Editor

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2016, 12:06:16 AM »
That's a riot. Was there any background check or was it more like, "Oh yeah, Trinity kid.  He's ok.  Who's got an index card?"




Offline BLeafe

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #3 on: September 24, 2016, 01:00:00 AM »
I don't think I was asked a single question about anything..............and HTS never came up.

Attached is a Blue Cab cardboard sign that I kept and a picture I took in 2009 of the abandoned gas station, which had been a Chevron station on the corner of Queen Anne Rd and State St.

I don't know what that shiny car on the sign was supposed to represent. Every Blue Cab was a boxy Checker Cab...............and blue.






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Offline Chief Oratam

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #4 on: September 24, 2016, 08:32:15 PM »
I miss Checker Cab.....Have you tried to take a cab lately. ....it's impossible. ... they won't even pick you up, unless you are going to an airport. ..they don't want to move unless their going to make big bucks no more meter service. ....towns like secaucus, and Fort Lee ,Rutherford  still have cabs..... Hackensack. ....Forget it.....

Offline Editor

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #5 on: September 24, 2016, 09:03:09 PM »
Uber.

Offline Chief Oratam

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2016, 09:24:55 PM »
Yeah I know,....just not a big fan of uber.

Offline BLeafe

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2016, 11:30:02 PM »
I found two items related to Blue Cab. The first was on Pinterest - and looks authentic - and the second was in a dresser drawer.

That must have been my Teaneck taxi license. I guess the township was fresh out of index cards.



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Offline johnny g

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #8 on: September 26, 2016, 08:04:17 AM »
In 2010 I taxied in Fort Lee for awhile...there's lots of action up there and (at that time) three major taxi companies operating just out of Fort Lee.
Fairview and Cliffside Park also had car services. We used to line up just outside the GWB stairs and were always busy, not only with airport runs but people either coming out of NYC or people going in from other towns. When I did my original stint out of Hackensack in the early 90's it was just after they retired the Checker cabs. I was disappointed about that, and drove Chevy Impalas or Caprices...

Offline johnny g

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #9 on: September 26, 2016, 08:44:07 AM »
BTW, I remember that building in Teaneck...wonderful Deco style building

Offline BLeafe

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2016, 09:25:58 PM »
In 2010 I taxied in Fort Lee for awhile...there's lots of action up there

There used to be a lot filled with a whole bunch of these Babe's yellow Checker cabs right next to the GWB toll booths. Babe's is still in Fort Lee, but I don't know if they still have Checkers.


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Offline johnny g

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #11 on: September 27, 2016, 08:02:35 AM »
No Checkers at Babe's when I was up there but they still kept the baseball logo on the cars, and they weren't parked outside the tolls anymore, all cars were parked on Bridge Plaza....Great shot!!

Offline BLeafe

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Re: My 1971 Hackensack Taxi License (wait'll you see THIS!)
« Reply #12 on: September 27, 2016, 02:10:21 PM »
Thanks, but it's not my shot. I found an old B&W online and gave it a sloppy paint job last night.


http://patch.com/new-jersey/fortlee/from-the-archives-fort-lees-babes-taxi-founder-honored-at-fort-lee-museum-dedication


Caption for below photo:

Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig

Babe Ruth teamed up the FLAC and Lou Gehrig with a West New York team in October 1931.  Fort Lee was defeated 7-4.  Pictured from left to right (first row): Billy Cella, George Whipple, Pete Appel, John Pagano, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, ? McCaren, Tony Mangano; (second row): Paul McCaren, Sonny Sneath, a coach, Charlie Subinski and Leo Devincentis; (third row): ? Gingerella, Frank Oceank, Leon Heller, Babe Maisano and Emil Schwab.
 

Photo and text taken from "Images of America: Fort Lee", pg. 50.
Babe Maisano is still a member of the FLAC as of March 2007.



(Note: Maisano died in 2008)


CLICKit!



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