Vanderbilt Cup Races

Hello Greg,
Great research and you’re right; the show is fabulous. I’ve been trying to explain the Vanderbilt nuances to my wife as the show has unfolded and you’ve made it a whole lot easier. Keep it up!

From Greg O's Garage; HBO's The Gilded Age, Long Island and the Vanderbilts Part 1

Has to be Krug’s Corner

From Mystery Friday Foto#11 Solved: A 1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race photo of officials published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Here is what Heron estates looks like today:

From Kleiner's Korner: Nassau County Surveys of Motor Parkway Property Transferred or Disposed Of (Levittown)

I’m very late to this party, but it is very obvious that the two girls are not the Whitney daughters, but Muriel and Consuelo II, daughters of “Birdie” Vanderbilt and Alva’s son WK Vanderbilt, Jr. Far more logical that they would be in the photo, and this Boldini portrait of the Misses Vanderbilt rather confirms it.

From Mystery Friday Foto #31: Consuelo, Birdie and Alva Vanderbilt and the daughters of Gertrude Whitney

Awesome job Art.  Interesting how parts of this ROW in Levittown were left open, utilized for schools, auctioned, fought over and eventually developed while the ROW from Bloomingdale rd to Wantagh ave was just directly built over by Levitt’s houses with no problem and no trace of the ROW left at all.

From Kleiner's Korner: Nassau County Surveys of Motor Parkway Property Transferred or Disposed Of (Levittown)

Great addition Art. I had forgotten there was a bit more of the ROW sold than I originally thought.

From Kleiner's Korner: Nassau County Surveys of Motor Parkway Property Transferred or Disposed Of (Levittown)

Amazing post !!!  Thank you.

From Greg O's Garage: The Great Wall of East Hills and Long Island Motor Parkway director Clarence Mackay

Great job. Did not know this was still here. If interested, I authored a very detailed website on Clarence Mackay. Unfortunately I have lost the ability to update it and some links are broken. But it still is full of lots of good info and pictures. Website: Mackayhistory.com
(Tap small blank box on upper right corner of each page to move to next page or tap section names on first page to navigate)
Bill McLaughlin

From Greg O's Garage: The Great Wall of East Hills and Long Island Motor Parkway director Clarence Mackay

That’s a great find Greg! Must have been fun to explore.

From Greg O's Garage: The Great Wall of East Hills and Long Island Motor Parkway director Clarence Mackay

Thanks Art!

And yes Brian. Between the elevation and overgrowth, it’s very difficult to access most of the driveway. Getting permissions from residents also took a few days.

From Greg O's Garage: The Great Wall of East Hills and Long Island Motor Parkway director Clarence Mackay

Great job, Greg.

From Greg O's Garage: The Great Wall of East Hills and Long Island Motor Parkway director Clarence Mackay

Looks like you all had a full & fun day, the elevation in and around is steep.

From Greg O's Garage: The Great Wall of East Hills and Long Island Motor Parkway director Clarence Mackay

Ernie, Your comment about “some sort of park in area” was first brought up when the super highway project was abandoned in late 1952. ( Moses effectively killed it.) Concerned new residents in the area asked the County not to sell the Motor Parkway ROW but save it for parks, schools, community centers etc.

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold

My pleasure Ernie.  If you are interested I’ll be posting additional Nassau County surveys showing acquisition and disposal of Motor Parkway property in several Nassau County locations, including Levittown.

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold

Art: Thank you for posting that survey. I believe it answers my question why that plot was never developed: half of it remained with the county. Even today on Google Maps there is a boundary line that follows the south side of Orchid leaving the county’s triangle between that boundary and the “proposed” Orchid road.

Now if some brave elected official would just put some sort of park in that area.

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold

David, Your assuming the overall width of the super highway was to be 115 wide. My thoughts are that the Levitt piece abutted the 100 foot wide Motor Parkway ROW and together they would make the super highway more than 200 feet wide.

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold

Ever hear of Rex Mays? Qualified 3rd, finished third, driving a 2 year old Alfa, practice car for Nuvolari in 1936. Yep, my dad, was offered factory rides with Alfa Romeo, Auto Union and Mercedes for the 1938 season. His car was 30 miles per hour slower than the German cars and still finished with average speed only 3 miles per hour slower than the winner. I guess fake news has always been around.

From Newsreel "1937 Vanderbilt Cup Race"

To Al Velocci:  Leaving only a 115 ft wide space open for a proposed “super highway” doesn’t seem nearly wide enough to accommodate.  And the distance left open by Levitt, (even if you want to include the polaris ball fields) from Pintail lane to Bloomingdale road is only a mile and a half.  Far short of 4 miles.  Additionally, if there was a risk of this highway actually being built, why would Levitt then build over the Motor Parkway ROW from Bloomingdale road to Wantagh ave?  Not arguing, I’m just fascinated how it all played out.

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold

And I meant note the survey is courtesy of Al Velocci.  Thanks Al!

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold

The undeveloped lot.

From Greg O's Garage: An actual strip of the Motor Parkway sold