1 Yellow cabs
2 The Pepsi sign
3 Katz’s Delicatessen
4 Wonder Wheel
5 Water towers
Sights 6–10




Their shape has changed, from boxy to Bullitt style, then to oval and back to boxy (c.f., the new hybrids). But it’s the color that puts them at No. 1: That famous yellow was chosen because it’s easy to spot (so said a survey at the University of Chicago more than 100 years ago), and even today, the blazing sheen articulates our urgent need for a ride right now. There are some potholes—the current flower-power art project looks like the Summer of Love threw up (sorry, sick kids who helped!), and the new Checker-cab decals look graffitied on. But taxis are best viewed from a high building anyway, where you can see them pulsing through the city like little yellow blood cells.

View our more tangible icons picks on a Google map.