Vanderbilt Cup Races

Greg it was great reading your article and the story about the horses. Our good friend Allegra Farms from Connecticut is supplying the horses and carriages for the Guilded Age. I have worked on shoots for TV and movies and the horses can be the worst actors on set. Looking forward to Part 2. We have ran the horse show during the L I Fair for 30 years and always enjoy our time spent there. Here’s a photo of me judging the show and explaining the horses and carriages to the guests.

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

Just watching the first episode OnDemand, I’m hooked line & sinker : )

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

I believe this photo was taken on the day of the first Vanderbilt Cup Race, October 8, 1904 in front of the officials stand on Jericho Turnpike in Westbury. The photographer would be facing north. The rationale is: the construction style seems to match other images of the same structure from 1904 and Willie K. appears to be wearing a leather coat which eliminates the 1906, 1909, and 1910 races during which he wore cloth jackets. I think the men in the photo from right to left are: Willie K., Referee; Peter Prunty, Announcer; Jefferson DeMont Thompson, Chairman of the Vanderbilt Cup Commission; A. R. Pardington, Willie K.‘s Aide and first Chairman of the AAA Contest Board.

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

1904 Vanderbilt Cup Race
Front Grand Stand
Based on hats and clothing I think I see Arthur Pardington Chairman of AAA racing board.  James Breese member of the Board of Governors of the Automobile Club of America.  Harlan Whipple Prisident of AAA.  William K. Vanderbilt Jr.

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

Greg, Thanks for the compliments.  OBVR was fun to work at; I especially enjoyed the Manufacturer’s Exhibition at the LI Fair, although setup & knockdown was time consuming, but explaining 19th century technology to visitors like yourself was a big part of why I enjoyed it.  Of course my favorite part of the Fair was being “The Wheelman” on the high wheel bicycle with no brakes, another great interpretive tool!  Yes, I’m familiar with that recording, and knew several of the band members.  Music at OBVR started back in the 1970’s with both the brass band and the OBVR singers.  After your recording, 2 additional cassette tapes were released - “The Long Island State” featuring the OB Singers, and “Rally Round the Flag” performed by both groups.  Back on June 1, 1991 we had a “Grand Brass Band Concert” where the Dodworth Saxhorn Band from Michigan, and the Centennial Brass Band from Maine, joined with the OBVR Brass Band in Concert under a tent in the Fairgrounds - what a great evening that was.  It was hoped to produce a recording of that event, but unfortunately it never happened.  We also hired guest musicians to perform for special events including Jeff Warner and Jeff Davis, along with Skip Gorman, all well-known with their own recordings.  Did you know that the original singers group at OBVR, known as the Fellowship Singers, included Pat Carey, Mariah Carey’s mom?  Such great memories!

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

Thanks for the compliments guys! It’s a great show, so this was a fun post to put together. I’ll be putting together a part 2 looking at the cast and Vanderbilt parallels.

Gary- I always appreciated seeing you at the OBVR. I recall the first time I met you, you were kind enough to spend about 30 minutes explaining all the farm tools at the barn near the refreshment stand at the LI fair. And later splitting the crowds as you rode by on a penny farthing.
I also happen to be huge record collector with about 3000 records. On a recent record hunt, I came across this record of the OBVR brass band from 1981. I’m sure you’ve seen one before and maybe even know most of the people involved with it.

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

I completely agree this series is very entertaining and goes the extra to make things authentic to the camera’s eye. I enjoy watching the background as much as the action catching details like:
- the brand new (clean!) walls around central park
- the mysteriously bright clean ballast under the track when a train is shown. while I doubt this is period accurate it is always pleasant to see well maintained trackage.
- a surprising lack of house poop on the streets was covered in a bit of background business where there was a man sweeping some away!

With but 2 episodes remaining this is a good choice to binge watch and get caught up.

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

Greg, Thanks for this article.  Old Bethpage Village Restoration (OBVR) has been used for filming TV shows & movies since 1974 when “The Case Against Mulligan” was filmed there in the historic Village under strict curatorial control.  Actually, the following year on November 21, 1975, a film crew arrived at OBVR to start filming the TV movie “The Devil’s Work”. I remember this very well as I, along with a number of other staff, worked as extras sitting in the Manetto Hill M.C. Church depicting the members of the congregation. We worked from 2:30-4:00, and got paid $35.65 for the work!  The one correction to your article is that Jay Gould never stepped foot on the Sands Point Preserve property.  He died in 1892, a decade before he son, Howard Gould (1871-1959), bought the property, living there with his wife Katherine Clemmons before their scandalous, and very public, divorce in 1909.  Originally living in an existing wooden mansion, they would build the 3 stone bridges, ponds, dog kennel, pheasant house, cow barn, a now long demolished greenhouse complex, and the magnificent limestone stables, known as “Castle Gould”.  This impressive stable complex with a central bell tower was never a mansion, but purpose built to house Gould’s horses and carriages, and later automobiles.  It NEVER was a mansion as many have stated.  His 272 ft. yacht, the Niagara, was tied up at his dock on L.I. Sound.  It was called the largest pleasure yacht ever built in the U.S. up to that time (1898).  The 3 mansions on the site were Hempstead House, completed around 1914 by Howard Gould, Falaise built by Harry Guggenheim, and Mille Fleuers built by Mrs. Daniel Guggenheim.  To my knowledge, the only estate on L.I. to have 3 mansions on it, and all still standing!

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

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