Recent Comments

Apr 10 2016 frank femenias 12:46 AM

And any news on those bicycles leaning on the guardrail? They appear identical and to be motorcycles instead (for official use?), but I dont see the throttle on the handlebars

From Amazing Photos of the Alco Black Beast During the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Apr 10 2016 frank femenias 12:36 AM

Awesome ‘new’ photos of the Bete Noir Beast. I believe these pics would’ve remained buried deep if not for this website’s exposure.  The last pic at the finish line used photography methods resulting in everything being reversed. Regardless, this new photo angle has prompted changes to come even closer to the Official Stand’s approximate length. The support beams now clearly appear to be closer to 8 foot centers instead of 12.5 centers as previous reported.

From Amazing Photos of the Alco Black Beast During the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Apr 09 2016 Chuck Rudy 8:31 PM

Well done Brandon!  I’ve dealt with Brandon at the SAM several times.  Very devoted to automotive racing history, and automotive history in general.  If you’re every in the Saratoga Springs territory it’s worth a trip to the museum.

From Amazing Photos of the Alco Black Beast During the 1909 Vanderbilt Cup Race

Apr 08 2016 Dave Russo 12:33 PM

I wish I could attend.

I’m very interested to know the significance of that spot that led to your passion. Please fill us in!

From Thursday's Presentation:“My Hunt for the Vanderbilt Cup Races & the Long Island Motor Parkway"

Apr 08 2016 Ted 12:31 AM

Hay Howard!, I may have an answer for this one,just by looking at the the pictures I can see a possible entrance,but I have to check it further,before Monday night,I hope,sure going to try.

From Mystery Foto #15 Solved: Motor Parkway Parking Space Adjacent to Long Island Aviation Country Club

Apr 06 2016 Howard Kroplick 3:58 PM

From Tim G:

Thanks for posting the block about the Wright Flying Field photo. I see it was posted more than a year ago, but I just stumbled across it while searching for information about the field. I’m working on an article about someone who learned to fly there, but I’ve only had a vague sense of where the school was located and what it looked like. It’s interesting that this photo has been in my own backyard all along (Fairborn is close to Miamisburg). I’m now trying to contact Allan Routt through the Fairborn Historical Society.
Tim

From Mystery Foto #99: The Wright Flying Field in Mineola Circa 1916/1917

Apr 06 2016 Brian D McCarthy 12:35 PM

Great find, Gary.

From The 1944 Proposal for "A Nassau County Park at Salisbury" in East Meadow

Apr 05 2016 frank femenias 4:29 PM

What an unexpected surprise meet! It MUST be a small world after all. Richard, what were your measurement findings.

From Searching for the Site of the Long Island Aviation Country Club & the Grandstands Updated 5/3/16

Apr 05 2016 frank femenias 4:23 PM

Howard,
“In 1822 land was donated next to the church for a cemetery, which remained there until the 1950s, when the land was sold. Those buried there were reinterred in the Cemetery of the Evergreens on the Queens/Brooklyn border, where one stone marks the church’s dead.”

Scroll down about 40%
https://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/places/pdfs/13000696.pdf

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 05 2016 Brian D McCarthy 7:59 AM

We all knew this wasn’t going to be easy. I always figured whoever supply’s the mystery photo already knows the answer. But it sounds like Howard and Al were figuring this out along with us.
______________________________
From Howard Kroplick

Brian, we were!

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 05 2016 Art Kleiner 7:14 AM

Too much for me to comprehend!  But thanks Howard and Al for your detailed analysis.  Once I thought it was a church cemetery I went searching for churches and found one, but not the right one.  And by that time I was exhausted with this photo.
Amazing the sign is still there.  If you look closely, you’ll see a few parkway posts too. And then there’s a bridge I have for sale.  So what if April Fools Day was just a few days ago.  Thanks for the challenge guys.

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 04 2016 Tim Ivers 9:01 PM

Queens Blvd. at 54th Avenue.
The historic First Presbyterian Church of Newtown.
Sign is pointing left (southeast) towards the western terminus of
the LIMP at Peck Avenue and Horace Harding Blvd. (today’s LIE).
Year about 1925 ?
Auto makes unknown.

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 04 2016 frank femenias 4:17 PM

BTW, this church was at the center of the Revolutionary War. Incredible story.

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 04 2016 frank femenias 3:56 PM

Good one Al. 2nd attempt: OK, I grew old trying to figure this out and still not sure. The Newtown First Presbyterian church hint helps.  I believe the mystery photo was always looking NW (NE for the church hint photo), so I’m assuming the church/cemetery once stood on Hoffman Blvd’s northside. That would also explain the signs direction. So going with that, we’re at the intersection of today’s Queens Blvd and Broadway/Grand Ave looking NW. The sign is directing to turn onto Broadway, then turn right onto Corona Ave, go over Strong’s Causeway bridge, follow to North Hemp Tpke to the Rocky Hill Lodge. Baffling is the fact that during the church’s relocation in 1924, it was moved only 125 ft south, to accommodate the mostly southward expansion of Hoffman Blvd (Queens Blvd). That’s not enough space to move it from the northside to the southside of the boulevard. Anticipating this week’s answers

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 04 2016 Art Kleiner 7:12 AM

Spent too much time on this one without a conclusion!  Found one reference to a painter using Atlantic White Lead and Pure Linseed Oil in Elmhurst - Richard P. Luckner on Fourth Street (later changed to Ithaca Street).  Hint of a cemetery - could it be Cedar Grove or a local church cemetery?  In any case, sign might be pointing to Rocky Road entrance.  1928

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 04 2016 frank femenias 12:27 AM

That sign could be pointing south on Newtown Av (Pettit Av), then heading east on Bway, then left on Justice Av, or Queens Bl, and heading east towards the Rocky Hill Rd Lodge. It’s complicated back then, not easy

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 04 2016 frank femenias 12:18 AM

Love the ol’ historic photos and the challenging mysteries they can bring. This one is truly a toughy, as my answer still persists with just one annoying conflict left, so hoping for the best here. Another amazement with this photo is that I was brought up just 1.5 miles from here in Woodside, and this photo is totally unrecognizable to me. 
With some searching, I have this house located as 12 Fourth Street (Ithaca Street), just southwest of the corner of Newtown Avenue (Pettit Avenue) in Elmhurst, as the ‘Atlantic White Lead & Linseed Oil’, belonging to painter and decorator, Richard P. Luckner.

Scroll down to check the ad on the right.
http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper4/Newtown NY Register/Newtown NY Register 1915 Grayscale/Newtown NY Register 1915 Grayscale - 0402.pdf

If I’m correct so far, the year is 1915. This mystery LIMP sign will ultimately direct you to the preferred route (along with other LIMP signs) to the LIMP’s Rocky Hill Lodge western terminus and entrance at today’s Springfield Blvd (9.5 miles away). But a shorter, less desirable route was possible by taking Queens Blvd east (Hoffman Blvd), hanging a left at Plank Rd (63rd Rd), going through Strong Causeway (through the Valley of Ashes dump site (who’d want to travel that way)), and proceed through North Hemp Tpke (Booth Memorial Ave) to the Rocky Hill Lodge (9.1 miles). Times were tough back then. Looking forward to this week’s answers. Thanks Al

From Mystery Foto #14 Solved: A Motor Parkway Sign at Queens Boulevard and Grand Avenue Circa 1928

Apr 03 2016 Bruce Adams 8:45 PM

Thanks Howard !
GREAT FIND ROZ !!!

From The 1913 Metropolitan Automobile Guide and the Long Island Motor Parkway

Apr 03 2016 Ken Wiebke 7:20 PM


TRIANON?
My Google search revealed:  “itdoesn’t really have a meaning, it is an actual name, though in either French or Spanish, “Trianon” suggests a special place with pleasant surroundings, beauty and balance”.  Seems a suitable location after a strenuous motor trip and before returning to the City.

From The 1913 Metropolitan Automobile Guide and the Long Island Motor Parkway

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