Vanderbilt Cup Races

Thank you for the excellent article and meticulous research.  The 1908 Briarcliff Trophy Race deserves to be remembered.  Great to know about the Eastman resource.

From Gregg D. Merksamer: "Remembering the 1908 Briarcliff Trophy Race"

Didn’t the plane become a Navy JRS-1?  Wikipedia shows it having been built for younger brother Harold, not Willie.  More research required.  Sam, III

From Updated: Cradle of Aviation Archives: Willie K's Sikorsky S-43 Seaplane at Roosevelt Field

chrysler should bring back that window closing mechanism.  electric windows are ok but in cars that have wind up windows, bring it back or make it available as a “add on” for the older cars that do not have electric windows.

From Autoweek Magazine: This one-off 1937 Chrysler Imperial town car hides a spring-loaded secret

I think I saw it at The Cradle of Aviation Museum at the old Mitchell Field near NCC

From Updated: Cradle of Aviation Archives: Willie K's Sikorsky S-43 Seaplane at Roosevelt Field

Congratulations Howard! My son and I were at the Ford Nationals at Carlisle last weekend. On the way home we stopped at the AACA Museum to see the Mustang exhibit. It was so cool to see your car in the center. The Tucker Exhibit was awesome as well. I picked up a few books including the Tucker Story book they are selling. We then headed to the Barn Antique shop in Hershey were I found a copy of my former neighbor Fred Wagner’s book and a couple more treasures for my auto memorabilia collection. Keep the news letters coming they are certainly fun and educational.

From Chrysler's Chrysler Honored at the AACA Grand National Meet

Mystery Foto #23… the airfield is Hazelhurst Field in Mineola. Later to be Roosevelt Field. The plane is a Caproni CA-5 and the date should be around May 17, 1918. That’s all my research has given me.

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

Gordon, this may sound fatuous but I am so happy to hear from you.  As one who bicycled all over the central Nassau sections as a young adult, walked all of the LIMP, and snuck his narrow little 1954 Ford Anglia on wherever the barriers allowed me to squeeze through ca. 1960-70, I very much appreciate first-hand stories.  Thanks muchly. Sam, III

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

-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