Vanderbilt Cup Races

Location - Glen Oaks Queens, Glen Oaks Village
            LIMP Commonwealth Blvd. to Little Neck Rd./Parkway
            photo facing to the northeast

Major roads - Union Turnpike, Commonwealth Blvd. , Little Parkway

LIMP structure - remnants of the Little Neck Parkway bridge and LIMP

Property - Glen Oaks Village 1947, built for affordable housing for returning GI’s
            from WW II
Aerial Photo - William Fried Photography. Book ” New York In Aerial Views” 1980

Date of Photo - William Fried started taking aerial photos in 1945.  Glen Oaks Village opened in 1947.  The village is under construction in the photo.  Date 1945- 1947

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Glen oaks was built in 1948.So I’d say the date of the photo is 1940.I grew up and lived in Glen oaks in the 1950’sto 1980.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

This is a a photo og Glen oaks village in Queens and the motor parkway being constructed on the north side of the development. Thanks for posting these fantastic archive photos! They are priceless. Gene

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Looks like the construction site is Glen Oaks development, north eastern queens.  VMP borders the northern side.  EST date 1953.  Also, just north of glen oaks is Lake Succes Vanderbilt property with gold course.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Location and orientation of the photographer:  Glen Oaks, Queens.  Looking NE

Major roads: Commonwealth Blvd., Union Turnpike, Little Neck Parkway, 74th Road (just near the LIMP Bridge abutment), Shiloh Avenue (today) and the LIMP
 
Long Island Motor Parkway structures(s):  Little Road Motor Parkway Bridge abutments

The property under construction: The 3,800 unit Glen Oaks Village built by Alfred Gross in 1947.

What year was the photo taken? Provide a rationale.  Sept., 1947 (Dec. ‘47 shows it more completed and a previous mystery photo answer).

Who was the owner of the company that took this aerial? What relevant book did he write?  Owner was William Fried, owner of Skyviews.  Wrote “New York in Aerial Views: 68 Photographs by William Fried”.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

This appears to be the beginnings of Glen Oaks Village, shot looking northeast.  It is framed by Commonwealth Blvd on the west and Union Tpke to the south.  Way off in the distance you can see the Little Neck Parkway bridge. The Comm Blvd bridge is just out of view on the west.  I would put this around 45’ or 46’.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

IT LOOKS LIKE GLEN OAKS,  GARDEN APPTS. GOING UP 1947 !  MY GUESS.  ARTIE

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Commonwealth Blvd & Union Tpke.  The LIMP bridge over Littleneck Parkway is mostly there.  It appears the walls of the bridge remain, while the steel crossing is gone.  So this would put the picture after WW2.
joe

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

This is a fantastic post.  Wow.  Days like this has to make all the research worthwhile. 
-joe

From Herb Lytle's Great-Great-Grandson Takes a Ride in the Alco Black Beast

mitchell field being built
early 1940
off old country rd. looking south

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Glen Oaks Village under construction looking NE. Motor Pkwy is diagonal just behind the construction site. Commonwealth Blvd bridge is just out of view on the left but Little Neck Pkwy bridge can be seen at top right. This photo was taken before the Little Neck bridge was taken down by Borough President Burke in ’42, so the parkway may still be open here. Rode my bike through this neighborhood a few times to reach the parkway RoW behind LIJ’s parking lot. Roadways include Union Tpke. Joby’s Motor Parkway East petition is still taking signatures.

https://campaigns.transalt.org/petition/complete-motor-parkway-greenway-safe-bike-path-connecting-queens-and-long-island

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Great article, thanks for story and the history of these five amazing automobiles. Pebble Beach 2018 was a great event to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Tucker Automobiles. Thank’s to all the Tucker owners who brought their cars to the Pebble Beach.

From OldMotor.com: Five Favorite Tuckers at the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance

Photograph is looking NNE at the construction of Glen Oaks Village (GOV). Photograph taken somewhere over current-day Cross Island Pkwy, south of Union Tpke, or over the adjacent Creedmoor property.

Union is the diagonal road to the bottom and the intersection of Union Tpke and Commonwealth Blvd (once Clinton Ave) is at lower left. LIMP runs diagonally above GOV and near the upper left the remains of the Little Neck Pkwy (Rd.) bridge can be seen. NYC PLUTO database reports that buildings in center of GOV were completed starting in 1948, so picture cannot be after that. Buildings shown as complete were built in 1947 (near Commonwealth and Union). Given foliage, best guess would be late Spring/early Summer 1948. Other details confirm picture must be after July 1942 (bridge demolition) and before 1950 (completion of houses off SE corner of Union & Commonwealth).

While not a “major” road, the diagonal-to-the-street-grid path that leaves east side of GOV will (more-or-less) become Shiloh Avenue, connecting with Little Neck Pkwy at the right edge of the photograph. Shiloh was originally mapped to start at Union and drawn to run parallel to act like a south “service road” for the LIMP segment that was just west of the Nassau County border.  As built, Shiloh is a stump and was rotated to the south to avoid crossing Little Neck Pkwy at another street. Perhaps another reader knows reason this street was named Shiloh in the first place. 

William Fried was the owner and his relevant book (of photographs) is “New York in Aerial Views.” Mystery picture was taken early in his career that continued until 1980. Encourage all to look at that book. Used copies of a reprint edition are easily found online.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Photographer is in Queens looking north over Union Turnpike ( horizontal bottom) around Commonwealth Blvd( vertical left) with Motor parkway horizontal top) Motor Parkway Little Neck Parkway Bridge is upper right, just north of Shiloh Ave.
Property under construction is Glen Oaks Village.
Year is around 1939-1942 because after LIMP was shut down, they put up concrete barriers to keep people from using road and bridges. Bridge was taken down in 1942.

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

I grew up in Fresh Meadows in the ‘50s and early ‘60s. I’m guessing based upon what I remember.
It looks like an aerial view, looking northeast, of what became part of the Glen Oaks Garden Apartments, with the shopping strip fronting on Union Turnpike.
I remember that the remains of the Motor Parkway ran through, and were incorporated into, the Glen Oaks grounds, which can be seen east of the site and running northeasterly.
Little Neck Parkway, which is the westerly border of Glen Oaks, is visible.
The houses that are south of the site; i.e., on the south side of Union Turnpike, were built after the War (circa 1947-1949). So I think the photo was taken in or about 1948, the year I was born. 

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

What a fascinating time machine. Amazing!

From Herb Lytle's Great-Great-Grandson Takes a Ride in the Alco Black Beast

September 1947 Glen Oaks Queens
Construction of apartments in Glen Oaks
Looking northeast
LIMP bridge over Little Neck Parkway

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Recognized this one as previous Mystery Foto #42 from Nov 18 2013

-Location and orientation of the photographer
Glen Oaks Queens looking Northward

-Major roads
Union Turnpike, Commonwealth Boulevard and Little Neck Parkway

-Long Island Motor Parkway structures(s)
Embankments of the Little Neck Motor Parkway Bridge

-The property under construction
-What year was the photo taken? Provide a rationale.
Glen Oaks Apartments under construction in September 1947

From Mystery Foto #44 Solved: Glen Oaks Village Being Built Along the Motor Parkway Right-Of-Way in 1947

Thanks everyone, enjoy the map! 

Dave - both maps were created independently and have exact results along the LIMP RoW, even through the tricky Queens and Suffolk segments. Deadman’s Curve #2 over Route 135 appears exact on both. This finding is from two independent sources. 

Greg - Great suggestions. Both were added to the map. I can envision an occasional train whizzing by. :D

The Grave’s Garage site appears to be under development in 2017. Does anyone have updates of this location?

Also updated is the multiple locations of the Mineola Lodge and Kiosk locations.  Thanks to Al’s detailed description, their locations have been located in a 1926 aerial.

From Femenias Findings: A New Interactive Online Map of the Long Island Motor Parkway

The car which I mis-identified as a Pierce Arrow is actually a Royal Tourist. Still not sure what the one with the louvers on the hood is.

From Mystery Foto #43 Solved:#7 Chalmers at the Hicksville Road Turn During the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race