A few nights after my last diary, about the passenger rescue, I had a series of fares that put me in the north-east corner of the valley. The zone in this area that most cab drivers want to wait in is 225, which is north of the intersection of Scottsdale Rd. and Bell Rd/Frank Lloyd Wright Blvd. There are some nice hotels, jaguar/porsche/audi/etc dealerships, and well-to-do neighborhoods on the outside of the loop 101.
When I visit zone 225, I typically wait in the Whole Foods parking lot, where I pick up a carrot, coffee, or something from the hot deli (which is rather expensive for a humble taxi driver, but I am very picky). There is also a Trader Joe's in this zone, and they have free coffee samples, tapioca pudding, etc.
On this particular night I had no interest in being fourth in line in 225, so I went to 223, which is just west of the Whole Foods on Mayo Blvd. Zone 223 and 224 are shaped a little oddly - 223 is north of 224, when the the #'s usually count up west-to-east. 223 is rather barren, so I headed south to 224.
Inside: youtube link, etc