Vanderbilt Cup Races

-Identify the airfield and the orientation of the photographer. Provide a rationale.
Photographer standing in Mitchel Field looking South East

-Identify the Motor Parkway structure.
The Roosevelt Field Motor Parkway Bridge

-Identify the airplane.
Pure guess here, but maybe an Italian Caproni bomber

-What was the approximate date of the photo? Provide a rationale.
Caproni bombers were in service between 1918 through 1921, so my guess would be within that time frame.

From Mystery Foto #23 Solved: A Caproni CA-5 Taking Off at Hazelhurst Field in September 1918

Brian: Yes, Emma was my mother, though she actually used the name “Peggy”.  She passed away in 2007.

Dave: The only parts of the LIMP I knew as a kid were near my grandparents’ house and within about a mile of our house at 17 Motor Lane in Bethpage.  I lived there from age 6 to 14.  The part of the parkway that I spent most of my time on was where Albergo Ct is located now.  I don’t think I have any photos of the Parkway itself other than the field between it and Motor Lane, but when I get a chance, I’ll look through my mother’s old photos.  I don’t recall seeing any, but maybe I overlooked one. 

Al: It’s great to hear from you!  It’s been a while.

From VanderbiltCupRaces.com Exclusive: From the Lodgekeeper's Family Archives-The Garden City Lodge

O. K.  First off, I asked Bob Miller about the Brentwood Lodge roof picture and he says he “shot looking northeast from the Parkway.  It was at the east end of the property of Bonwit Inn, which was a flat spot.”  So - what is the hous ein the background?  Secondly, I am having some image problems with the remainder of my LIMP History pages, so I restored the easiest, page 4, <http://sbiii.com/limphst4.html>, first, which has a fab. pic. of the Broad Hollow bridge in 1945, among many others. There’s work for you folks to do on the Groundbreaking Ceremony pix there!  LIMP History Pp. 0, 1, and 3 to follow.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Funny, I was at the AACA museum a few weeks ago as a stop-off on a round trip to the Pittsburgh area for a wedding.  Nice museum, I especially liked the Tucker exhibit!  But I’d have love to see the Mustang exhibit!

From Updated: 1963 Mustang III Concept Show Car a Big Hit at the AACA Museum Exhibit Opening Reception

Thanks Frank M. and Sam III

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

After reading about the history of The NY and North Shore Traction Company, I realized the trolley line rails used to be on Mineola and Willis Ave; and the trolleys ran below this overpass until 1920. Guess there was a designated lane for the trolley line. Traction line is also noted on the 1928 Motor Pkwy Atlas here, Howard.

From Long Island Motor Parkway Bridge Series:#21 Willis Avenue Motor Parkway Bridge in Williston Park

Correction, the first time the streets show up are in this weeks mystery photo 1955

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Ted!  Welcome back. Hope all is well in the sunshine state. Visit back these parts more often.

Didn’t know the NSP terminated here once. Neat!

If memory serves, someone ripped out the small office space within the lodge to use elsewhere, then setting aside the rest on the field. Bizarre.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Brian, you are quite right.  Méson Olé‘s then-owner concurred but I never got around to crawling through the attic and such to find hard evidence, like timber branding.  Ditto Sempre Vivolo, at 696 Motor Parkway, Hauppauge, which is very much still around.  It’s written up on my LIMP History page 2, which never quite got transferred, so I just now finished that up and you can read it, with pix, at <http://sbiii.com/limphst2.html#semprev>.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Brian - The restaurant had a fire a few years back and was taken down sometime afterwards. The area is now a parking lot behind the McDonalds.  I used to go the restaurant a few years back and I enjoyed the food.  At the time I did not have any idea that it was connected with the LIMP.

Sam - Yes the streets off Crooked Hill RD.  These streets show up on the 1947 Suffolk GIS aerial.  They existed all the way up to the time they developed the area for the Home Depot/Walmart shopping center.  The roads were never named and the area was never developed. The streets were in a grid pattern and appear to be designed for a housing development that was never built.  Does anyone know the mystery relative to these streets?

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

I was reading through Mr. Velocci’s book concerning the LIMP’s lodges/keepers. It’s thought that Brentwood Lodge #3 eventually became the Meson Ole Restaurant, which was located in the parking lot ( S/E corner of LIMP and Commack Rd/Crooked Hill Rd. ). Does anyone have a good memory of this restaurant? On a Google Streetview, it’s still on location in 2012. But it must have been demolished, because it’s completely gone presently. On the Suffolk County GIS aerials, there looks to be a building there since 1947. This 3rd lodge was similar to the Ronkonkoma Lodge. The building on Streetview sort of looks like a lodge with additions.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

HA- I missed Crooked Hill but no one else picked up on McCulloch (or the little streets off Crooked Hill, for that matter)!  However, that lodge roof picture, which I believe should have been credited to Bob Miller, reminds me that I may very well have gotten hooked on the LIMP by an early public lecture by Bob in which he showed that very picture.  Please remind me (and probably most every one else) of the story of that lodge’s sad demise.  Remember that the Bonwit’s late owners, Charlie and Jimmy Tsunis, always claimed that the lodge site was where their fake well sits today.  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Commack Road, Sagtikos intersection of Northern State. toll house at Commack rd/motor parkway intersection.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Dix Hills / Commack with North up. NSP and SAP both under construction here about 1952. LIMP, Harned Rd, Commack Rd, and Crooked Hill Rd are joining the party. Possible Brentwood Lodge #3 (1923-1928) on the SE corner of LIMP and Commack Rd.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

An aerial view of the Commack Road/Brentwood Lodge area of thee LIMP
Running north to south in the middle of the aerial is Commack Road.
Horizontally across the middle (Looking like a horizontal pair of scissors) is the Northern State Parkway which ended at the cloverleaf until its extension to Hauppauge in 1965.
I would date the photo to About 1963
Just under the Northern State at a slight left to right diagonal is the LIMP and it crosses Commack Road with the northeast corner showing a building which may have been the Brentwood Shanty #2 and is today’s Bonwit Inn.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

We’re over the eastern Dix Hills / south Commack area with north being at the top of the photo. Besides the LIMP, we see Commack Road, Harned Road, Crooked Hill Road and the then eastern terminus of the Northern State Parkway where it joins the Sagtikos and Sunken Meadow Parkways. It’s possible that one or more pieces of the three versions of the Brentwood Lodge / ticket booth / shanty are visible. Since the NSP extension to Vets Highway is not yet visible and that was begun very soon after the Sunken Meadow section to Jericho Turnpike was completed in November, 1954, the photo is probably from 1954.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

By coincidence I discovered that photo G shows a 1918 Sizaire & Naudin. It must have been one of their last models and doesn’t resemble in any way the sporty little car from a decade earlier. It seems that the car is in Europe again, but I have no idea where.

From Never Before Published Photos of the Long Island Automotive Museum

-Identify the location of the aerial
Over Commack North is up.

-Identify the major roads
Vertical roads are Commack Road on the left, Sagtikos Pkwy on the right…The 2 major horizontal roads are the Northern State Pkwy on top, LIMP underneath.

-Identify a possible Motor Parkway structure
The Brentwood Lodge

-What is the date of the aerial? Provide a rationale.
The extension after the Sagtikos to 454 was built in 1965. Pure guess on the date would be mid to late 50’s due to presence of the Sagtikos.

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road

Oh, sibling; what hype (and what a find)!  Sam, III

From 1947 Tucker Franchise Plan Sales Tool Part IV: What You Get When You Buy a Tucker Franchise

Another easy one, although I freely admit cheating (which I hate) to verify my instant recognition.  That’s Commack Road at the (then) eastern end of Northern State Parkway, with (LI) north at the top.  Sunken Meadow Parkway heads north from the complex intersection, while Sagtikos heads south at lower right.  The picture postdates 1952 when NSP was extended to Commack Road and well-predates 1965 when NSP was fully extended beyond here to Vets’ Hwy.  Harned Road (the old LIMP Commack Spur north to the Jericho Pike) runs north just east of the intersection.  The diagonal road at lower left is McCulloch Drive.  Might that be a toll lodge in the extreme close-up (across the RoW from today’s Bonwit Inn)?  [By the way, Harned’s 1840s Commack sawmill, at Harned Road and New Highway, is still in business, run by no less than Doug Harned!]  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #22 Solved: A 1955 Aerial View of the Motor Parkway Surrounding Commack Road