Vanderbilt Cup Races

From Art Kleiner
Hi Sam, you might be referring to the Mackay Radio and Telegraph Co. location as shown on the 1941 Hagstrom map here. I also have a 1952 Hagstrom which also shows it.  The other two are from historicaerials.com and are from 1953 (still showing the building) and 1980 (showing the building’s footprint).  The street named Wireless Blvd. is a reminder of the Mackay company.  Send me an e-mail apart from the blog is you have any other questions about Mackay.  An internet search produced a lot of hits pertaining to a lawsuit it was in back in the late 30s with the National Labor Relations Board and RCA among others.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

I would love to find a re-print of this poster.

What great art work!

From Helck Family Collection: The Story Behind Peter Helck's Artwork for this Vanderbilt Cup Race Poster

My father drove me all over the place, especially LI, and I remember one of the marvels of my world was an overseas antenna system (zillions of phone poles all wired together).  As recall it was on the flat land of Hauppauge between the curve of the LIMP and Old Willetts Path and No. St. Pkwy./New Hwy.  Those poles remained there until the Marcus Blvd. area (where I twice worked) was built up.  I can’t find any reference to this array - anyone?  Sam, III

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

From Art Keiner:
I found this picture in a publication named “The Wireless Age”, July, 1920 in a story about the New York Radio Central Station, which was to be a powerful transmitting station located near Rocky Point.  While the Motor Parkway was not named on the map, it is very easily noticeable.

From Kleiner's Kolumn: The Long Island Motor Parkway in Maps (Part III)

New photos and information have been added to the post.

From Update: From the Thayer Family Album: Four Photos of the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race

I Identified the Franklin in the photo driving on Lakeville Rd. It is a 1914 Series 6 Touring. the 1913 and 1914 looks similar, but 1913 has right hand drive, 1914 has left hand drive like in the photo, also it has the same windshield but folded and it has electric lights and most likely has electric starter.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: The Lakeville Road Entrance to the Great Neck Lodge in 1914

Another location where two bridges were almost this close to each other was in Bethpage’s Central Park, between the Powell Ave and Nibbe’s bridges

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Addendum: The Nov 1951 Newsday article showing the LIMP dirt roadway may have been used by Otto McCamish still living at the Meadow Brook Lodge in 1957. The Merrick Ave bridge was removed in the 1940s making this section of Motor Parkway a private roadway.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Amazing never seen before ground view of the “twin bridges” in Westbury. Meadow Brook Hunt Club bridge (1920s-1944) under construction in the foreground (there’s a worker standing on the ladder under the bridge). Motor Parkway Roosevelt Field bridge (1909-1940s) in the background.  Photo is looking SE in the 1920s. The bridge was built to link the Meadow Brook Polo Fields (just to the north), to the Hunt Club (just to the south). Motor Parkway motorists experienced a unique view passing under these bridges.

The Nov 1951 photo below (looking east) I believe was taken from the top of the Polo Field bridge, with the LIMP Roosevelt Field bridge already removed, from where it once stood where the car is parked. Is there any information on this?

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Otto was standing on the north side of the LIMP looking east in what I believe is within the boundaries of Westbury today. This would have been a short walk west of the Meadowbrook Lodge. The bridge under construction was for direct access from Stewart Avenue to the recently constructed Meadow Brook Polo Club field and I believe was privately fund by club members. The bridge in the background had been built as the southern entrance to Roosevelt Field (airfield), also from Stewart Avenue. Since there are photos of the area in 1928 with only one bridge, and 1931 with two bridges, this photo must be between those two years. I’ll guess 1929.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

The twin bridge is the Roosevelt Field Meadowbrook bridges i believe.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Paul B:
Dear Howard,
I can’t remember how I got on your list some years ago but in these corona days your newsletters are a nice antidote to the news.

I’m just sorry I don’t live near all your historical venues although half of my family is from NYC so I’m familiar.

I grew up in Indianapolis in the 50’s and 60’s when the 500 was at its Zenith and we followed it like a May religion.

In recent years I’ve written a couple of short plays about Amelia Earhart and Harriet Quimby, and as you know, doing research one thing leads to another. Earhart was the grand Marshall of the 500 one year and that led me to the 500 archives and a meeting with Donald Davidson.  And of course that leads to following Eddie Rickenbacher back to racing on Long Island.

Quimby was an intrepid woman who wrote for Leslie’s Illustrated. She wrote about things she did that were completely off the books for women in 1910. Like riding full speed in a racing car on Long Island. Hats off to the racing car driver she wrote. Some of the bravest men!
https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/harriet_quimbys_exciting_ride_in_a_racing_motor-car-_october_4_1906

Be well these days and keep writing.

From Flying Boat/Seaplane of the Week: Sikorsky S-42B Pan American Clipper III (NC-16736)

Automobile reminds me of a 1909-1910 emf and a Mitchell.

From Update: From the Thayer Family Album: Four Photos of the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race

From Mark Thomas

Howard

This could be Francis Kendall Thayer from Sands Point who was a Lawyer as the time and lived in Sands Point. 

Francis Kendall Thayer
Birth 4 Dec 1875
Brooklyn, Kings County (Brooklyn), New York, USA
Death 10 Aug 1954 (aged 78)
Sands Point, Nassau County, New York, USA
Burial Westbury Friends Cemetery
Westbury, Nassau County, New York,
Parents: George Alexander and Jane (Jones) Thayer. Husband of Caroline (Mott) Thayer. Married: November 23, 1898 in Port Washington, Nassau County, New York.
Occupation: Lawyer

Regards, Mark Thomas,,  Stay healthy

From Update: From the Thayer Family Album: Four Photos of the 1910 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Thank you, Howard for this insightful look at ‘1937.’ Note, in the Short S23 Video at 5:52 for Cambria’s Test Flight, the Cambria’s Captain speaks toward a microphone that has a handkerchief wrapped around it. There was a squall when the crew flew out to Shannon, so this handkerchief wrapper may have been intended to limit the sound of wind gusts. However, there was also a 1936-1937 outbreak of an influenza epidemic and this may have been an intentional effort to keep the pilot and crew healthy and limit ‘bounce-back’ to and from the microphone, which could act as a vector. Like a cell phone or land line phone ‘speaker area’, a microphone could convey viruses, cold, flu or in today’s world, COVID-19. There is a message in this video to be observed by all news reporters, radio and TV studios and anyone using a cell phone, Skype headset or microphone at home or in a nursing home – it’s a vector – treat it with care. Clean it according to the manufacturer’s instructions or limit use. Be Well.

From Flying Boat/Seaplane of the Week: Sikorsky S-42B Pan American Clipper III (NC-16736)

Wow!! Really incredible to read all about this.

From Flying Boat/Seaplane of the Week: Sikorsky S-42B Pan American Clipper III (NC-16736)

The car in the picture just when the lodge had closed is a 1936 or 1937, but can’t tell the make.

From Greg O's Discovery #1: The McCamish Family Collection of Motor Parkway Photos: Meadow Brook Lodge

Great than and now pictures, well matched locations! You don’t have to be a tree expert either, nice to see.

From Mystery Foto #16 Solved: The Lakeville Road Entrance to the Great Neck Lodge in 1914

The answer would lie in the location of the “Erie Aggre Meter Plant.” Was this the original name of the concrete plant in Melville?

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway

Thank you, Otto!

*Where was Otto capturing this bridge work?:  He was on the north side of the LIMP, facing south east in East Garden City.

*ID bridges:  Bridge under construction is for the Meadowbrook Polo Club, existing bridge is the Roosevelt Field Hwy Type.

*Year:  I’ll say he captured this no later than 1930.

*Reason for this bridge:  Meadowbrook Club purchased property just north of the LIMP and carved out another polo field in the late 1920’s. The bridge created a connection with their polo fields south of Stewart Ave.

From Updated: Mystery Foto #17 Solved: The Meadowbrook Polo Club Bridge over the Motor Parkway