CHICAGO — The Checker taxi garage was a massive place, just to the north of North Avenue and stretching from Wells Street west to North Park Avenue. It was a wild and busy and noisy place, a human beehive.
Allan Lee Koss was in and out of there hundreds, likely thousands, of times. He drove for Checker from 1977 to 1988. He drove nights and, for him, it was a good job. And why not? If memory serves, drivers received 42% of whatever clicked on the meter, kept all tips, and the company took care of gas and maintenance.
I know that because I drove a cab too, out of that same garage, starting a few years before Koss and into his time there. We never met then but I share his feelings. “I liked driving,” said Koss. “There was a freedom to it and the people. It was a real job and you could make a good living. Yes, I was proud to be a cabdriver.”
