Vanderbilt Cup Races

Identify the building- link it to the Vanderbilt Cup Races:
-The Garden City Hotel, which served, for those who could afford it, as the center for the Vanderbilt Cup Races of 1904-1910.
The date of the photo:
-Approximately 1911 - once the hotel was enlarged by extending the sides to allow for additional rooms.
What was at this on this site before and after this building?:
-The site before the photo and after the photo always housed the Garden City Hotel but in different variations.  Originally built in 1874, it was restyled in 1895 and that version was destroyed by fire in 1899.  It was rebuilt and reopened in 1901 and enlarged in 1911.  Currently a modernized Garden City Hotel stands on this site.
Identify as many streets and structures as possible:
The hotel is located at 45 Seventh Avenue.  Across the street is the Garden City train station.  Stewart Avenue, Cathedral Avenue, Hubbell Plaza are all nearby.

From Mystery Friday Foto #59 Solved: A Nice Stay at the Garden City Hotel

Garden City Hotel.  Seventh Street, Hilton Ave. Cathedral Ave, LIRR station, Casino, GC administration office.  The new hotel and condos sit on the site presently, but don’t compare to the grandeur of the old hotel.  Men’s Club Golf Couse in the background.

From Mystery Friday Foto #59 Solved: A Nice Stay at the Garden City Hotel

Garden City Hotel
1920s, 1930 ?
GC Hotel was once the Headquarters for the Vanderbilt Cup races.
Also, Lindbergh stayed at the hotel the evening before his famous trans Atlantic flight out of nearby Roosevelt Field.
Streets include Cherry Valley Avenue, Cathedral Avenue, Hilton Ave and Franklin Ave.
Structures include the GC School Administration building ( was an active school back then) at intersection of Cherry Valley and Cathedral,  GC LIRR station, a few hundred yards in front of hotel, Garden City Casino, on the other side of tracks from LIRR station

My mom lives in an apartment right next door to the hotel and my brother’s wedding ceremony was in the GC Hotel.

From Mystery Friday Foto #59 Solved: A Nice Stay at the Garden City Hotel

Excellent article. Love hearing about all this all but forgotten history. Thanks for your research and dedication!

From InstaGRAM report: The history behind the 1939 Midget Racing National Championship at Roosevelt Raceway

Garden City Hotel originally built in 1874. The photo appears to be 1940’s. I believe this is the 3rd Hotel built prior to 1948 on 7th St in Garden City. The 4th hotel was built in 1983. The Garden City Hotel was HQ for the Vanderbilt Cup Race commission for all six races from 1904 to 1910.

From Mystery Friday Foto #59 Solved: A Nice Stay at the Garden City Hotel

that is filmed at the corner of Bridge lane and Ocean road , heading toward the start finish line

From Film: 1950 Bridgehampton Sports Car Road Races

Excellent! Superb! Wish I could have experienced all of this in person. As a child my family would pass this raceway as it hosted jam packed trotter events. Old Country Road was filled with cars and buses getting the crowds to this enormously popular horse race track. As a nine year old I was already wishing it was an auto race venue. For many years there remained a Racetrack Parking sign on a eastern border street to the track quite near where Bed Bath and Beyond was until it closed and I’m quite sure that now-gone sign dated to the days of the area’s motorsport history.

From InstaGRAM report: The history behind the 1939 Midget Racing National Championship at Roosevelt Raceway

Garden City Hotel with LIRR station

From Mystery Friday Foto #59 Solved: A Nice Stay at the Garden City Hotel

1909 unknown turn

From A Family Discovers 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race Photos in their Grandfather's Photo Album

Also agree with David Miller and Steven Willemann. Regarding Arthur P Heyer’s 1909 mystery curve photo, a 1908 photo exists of the Stewart Ave bridge revealing same evergreen trees on Emily Ladenburg’s oasis estate in the Hempstead Plains (Mystery Friday Foto of Aug 25, 2015)—>  https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/mystery_friday_foto_33_can_you_identify_tis_section_of_the_long_island_moto .
It appears the Heyer Party split up near the Stewart Ave bridge seeking photographic vantage points of the 1909 race, but not very far. The weather was cold and the terrain was rough and swampy. I believe the curve was located just 1,125 feet (0.2 miles) from the Stewart Ave bridge, marked in the google map photo below. The mystery curve photo is looking west by the racer’s shadow pointing towards north.  Spectators standing on the right side, just outside Ladenburg’s property and within the Motor Parkway RoW fencing, was a dangerous vantage point on a curve without guardrails for its soft 45* curve. The Ladenburg windmill is out of view on the right side of photo (north). Across the Motor Parkway race track is Eisenhower Park’s Red Golf Course, then a barren land of the Hempstead Plains. Difficult to tell by the 1909 photo but I would be interested to know the Motor Pkwy RoW width at this particular location.

From A Family Discovers 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race Photos in their Grandfather's Photo Album

That’s the Garden City Hotel which served as headquarters for all 6 Vanderbilt Cup Races held on Long Island from 1904 to 1910. Judging by the lack of development to the north (top) of the photo, I’d say some time in the 1930’s for the date: wild guess would be 1936. Since this is the third of four hotels built on this site, a Garden City Hotel both preceeded and followed this version. Some streets in the photo include: Cathedral Avenue; Franklin Avenue; Stewart Avenue; 7th. Street; Cherry Valley Avenue; and possibly Rockaway Avenue.

From Mystery Friday Foto #59 Solved: A Nice Stay at the Garden City Hotel

Greg, amazing facts (and dates) of events that occurred on the site of the original Roosevelt Raceway of 1936/37. I was unaware of two different Midget Raceways. Great Stuff!

From Mystery Friday Foto #58 Solved: A Midget Racetrack at Roosevelt Raceway

Agree with Mr. Miller about the ‘inconclusive’ mystery location. The tree line, in the distance, has a familiar look and just might be the Stewart Ave, Newbridge Rd. vicinity.

From A Family Discovers 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race Photos in their Grandfather's Photo Album

Thank you Howard, always need to be vigilant.  Especially nowadays with AI!

From Fraud Alert Update: Guide to Identifying Authentic Versus Reproduced Long Island Motor Parkway and Roosevelt Field Porcelain Plates

Pat - you win the southernmost Motor Parkway award.  Thanks for letting me know.  We’ll have to map out the the Motor Parkway route from LI to Leland, NC to Tampa.

From An upcoming cover article on Long Island Motor Parkway License Plates and Vanderbilia

Great article!  Thanks to John for relighting the Motor Parkway spirit for others to learn about.  I believe I first heard about the Parkway from an earlier article I had read.  And thanks to the members who showed off their memorabilia! 

I was on LI this past week celebrating Thanksgiving with friends and family and managed to get a copy of Newsday with the article on Sunday before heading back to NC.  I bought a copy in a bagel store as we always stock up on NY bagels prior to heading home (NC bagels just don’t cut it, although there are some wannabee NY Bagels down here).  Happy Holidays to all!

From Newsday LI Life cover article: A need for Speed: LI's Motor Parkway was a road like no other for racers with the right plates

Pete, It appears that plate #40 was not issued to anyone in 1937. The highest sequential numbered plate sold that year was #36. For 1937 the Parkway had to order 75 plates as that was the minimum size order that the Baltimore Enamel Company would accept. Among the plates ordered were 10 of #100 for Vanderbilt, 4 of #300 for Harold Vanderbilt, Willie K’s brother, (down from 6 he would ordinally order,) 2 plates numbered 400 for Mrs. Earl T. Smith, Vanderbilt’s sister Consuelo.  Plate #200 was reserved for H. B. Hollins every year but in 1937 he was a no show, Plates # 18-21 were issued to Dr. H.B. Baruch. At the end of the year Kienzle would give the unused plates away mostly to the children of the lodge keepers and other Parkway associates.

From Database of the 97 known Long Island Motor Parkway License Plates- Updated: 3/15/2024

When I read how her father found this plates, I immediately thought of a past blog where Howard, Al when to explore a large shed next to the apartment complex off of Hicksville Rd ( former location of the Massapequa Lodge ) Led by Arthur Mauriello, grandson of The Zinzi’s who managed the Lodge, and continued to reside there as their home. There wasn’t any plates or memorabilia remaining in the shed. But now thanks to The Weidenaar’s, what was found back then by Mr. Rothblum; is now in Howard’s safekeeping. Great story this has become!

From Newsday LI Life cover article: A need for Speed: LI's Motor Parkway was a road like no other for racers with the right plates

We are looking east in Westbury over Roosevelt Raceway. I think the race in the photo could be the 1939 National Midget Racing Championship. This was the site of the 1936 and 1937 George Vanderbilt Cup races along with the 1960 version which was mainly in the parking lot of the trotter / pacer track. Do the thousands of harness races count? Especially the Messenger Stakes? Tough to tell about LIMP structures. Could be a remnant near the upper right corner along with the Meadowbrook Lodge and bridge over Merrick Ave. The two Roosevelt Field bridges might be there also but photo is just to blurry.

From Mystery Friday Foto #58 Solved: A Midget Racetrack at Roosevelt Raceway

Great article, wonderful story. Nothing like reading about our favorite historic site(s), Willie K., and the license plates with a hot cup of coffee on a crummy Sunday morning.

From Newsday LI Life cover article: A need for Speed: LI's Motor Parkway was a road like no other for racers with the right plates