Vanderbilt Cup Races

Based on the mystery photo, it appears certain that the Newbridge Hotel is actually on the east side of Newbridge Rd, making ALL the maps incorrect placing it on the west. Is this possible?

Art: The Motor Pkwy and old Jerusalem Rd are circled together. Can that section of Jerusalem Rd be today’s Salisbury Park Dr? This has been a mystery to me for years.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

What a sight to see. Those cars are gorgeous. Thanks for sharing it with us

From Willie K's 1902 40-HP Mercedes Simplex in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart

Yes this was an easy one,but didn’t get a chance to answer,I just looked at it and knew what it was and couldn’t remember where it was and left it at that,never got back to it until now. You guys really do a great job on the findings

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

From Ariejan Bos:

The mystery wasn’t too hard this time. The photo shows Saltzman on Thomas during the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup race, passing the Newbridge Road bridge. The building would be Newbridge Hotel.

More interesting, but not directly related to this mystery is an article on the attached page from The Motor World of March 1909. I came across the article recently while searching for something else. It refers to the Sharp Arrow, winner of the Garden City Sweepstakes held on the new Motor Parkway two weeks earlier. As you can read the Sharp Arrow was disqualified following a protest from one of the other contestants. Because of the ‘tardy’ decision it seems that nobody has noticed this fact and in all lists I see nowadays the Sharp Arrow is still the winner. However, this must be of course the Knox!

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Loved the 1906-1939 maps of Meadowbrook and the surrounding areas, including the early property owners and limited ways of getting around. Then see it progress over the years. It’d be great to spend just one day back there, seeing the original and unrecognizable landscape, but no doubt would soon miss all the modern day conveniences, like paved roads for starters. The aerial photo has nearly been totally transformed today, with the exception of the Old Country Rd traffic still trying to get home.

From Aerial Analysis: East Meadow, Westbury and the Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 12, 1936 Updated 2/15

Can’t recall and won’t cheat but I am amazed that the widow’s walk isn’t jammed to overflowing with spectators!  Sam, III

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

This is one of my favorite pics as it is .6 miles from where I live.  Realizing I was living so close to the Parkway was one reason for my interest over the past 13 years. 

Identify the building on the right and its location: New Bridge Hotel, New Bridge Road, Hempstead Plains (Levittown).  Operated by Jacob Gaenger.  Currently a gas station and homes. 

Identify the bridge in the photo. Provide a rationale.
New Bridge Road Parkway Bridge - After the bridge, the road curved to the north.  Central Railraod ran directly south of the bridge - a wooden diamond RR sign can be seen under one of the telephone poles. 

Identify the racer and the race.: #12 Thomas driven by George Saltzman (1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race)

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

“- - - 1919. It is likely the earliest known aerial of the Long Island Motor Parkway”?  “Known”, maybe. “Earliest”?  Hate to disagree but that is highly unlikely.  Hazelhurst and its fellow LI fields were hotbeds of early aerial photography.  Sherman Fairchild didn’t even get into the act until 1917 but his LI predecessors were legion.  So, now all that has to happen is that we locate the pix and then find the LIMP on them.  I’d suggest starting with auto racing and aviation news in the illustrated newspapers and magazines/journals of the day.  Simple, eh?  Sam, III
___________________________________________
From Howard Kroplick
Sam III, good point,  added “to date” to the sentence.

Howard I

From Amazing Aerials from the Cradle of Aviation: #3 The Earliest Known Aerial of the Motor Parkway

Nothing to do with this,just a quick Happy Valentines Day to all.

From Aerial Analysis: East Meadow, Westbury and the Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 12, 1936 Updated 2/15

From Lee Chambers:
In the most recent batch of photos, the Salisbury Club is the building to the west of Merrick Ave., very close to the CRRLI station, correct?  But isn’t that building the Meadow Brook Club?
My confusion is in differentiating the Salisbury Club with the Meadow Brook Club. Were they two separate facilities or one in the same?  Did the name change at some point?  If two, where we they in relation to one another?
___________________________________________________________________________________
From Howard Kroplick:
The building was always the clubhouse for the Salisbury Country Club not the Meadow Brook Golf Cub. Due to its apparent proximity to the Meadow Brook course, it has often be mistaken as the Meadow Brook’s clubhouse, which was further west nearer to their polo field. See the above added 1923 map and 1938 aerial.

From Aerial Analysis: East Meadow, Westbury and the Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 12, 1936 Updated 2/15

As I realEYEz what’s there now…kinda makes me wanna cry!

From Aerial Analysis: East Meadow, Westbury and the Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 12, 1936 Updated 2/15

I will guess the Thomas Flyer in 1908 in the Vanderbilt Cup Race…...the overpass/bridge #6 traveled over Newbridge Road. The spectators are watching the races in front of and atop the Newbridge Road Hotel.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Nice shot. This photo gives a good view how these bridges really looked and how steep they were. The only possibility here is the Newbridge Rd parkway bridge in Levittown, with railroad running adjacent and the left curve immediately following. We’re facing west towards Salisbury. Oct 24,1908 / 258mi. VCRace / #12 Thomas 110hp / Driver: George Saltzman / Mechanician: Blancard / finished 5/17. The Newbridge Hotel at Merillon Estates, located just off and east of Newbridge Ave (Rd) is no longer there.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Hello Howard,
Thanks for giving us an easy one for Valentine’s Day. That’s the Newbridge Road Hotel on the east side of Newbridge Road, slightly north of the LIMP in the Hempstead Plains, today’s Levittown. The LIMP bridge is going over Newbridge Road. My rationale (or research, or some would call cheating) is that it says so on page 90 of your “Vanderbilt Cup Races of L. I.”. The racer is the number 12 Thomas with George Salzman at the wheel during the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race. The mechanician is Blancard (couldn’t find his first name).

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Newbridge Hotel on Newbridge Road East Meadow
Spectators watching from the hotel and grounds
LIMP bridge over Newbridge Road
#12 George Saltzman

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Motor Parkway East of Newbridge Road facing west, as the road turns north toward today’s Levittown, the building on the right was the Newbridge Hotel.  Vanderbilt Cup Race- October 24, 1908, The #12 Thomas driven by George Saltzman. I like this location today because it is a good place to park my truck and ride a bicycle east to Deadmans Curve in Bethpage.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Identify the building on the right and its location-

Newbridge Hotel, on Newbridge Rd on the North side of the LIMP

Identify the bridge in the photo. Provide a rationale.-

Looking West at the Newbridge Road ‘parkway’ Bridge in Hempstead Plains. (RR crossing sign on the left seen)

Identify the racer and the race.

The #12 Thomas heading East driven by George Saltzman during the 1908 Vanderbilt Cup Race on October 24, 1908. Next stop; the grandstands!

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

Newbridge Rd bridge of the LIMP.

From Mystery Foto #7 Solved: New Bridge Hotel on Newbridge Road- A Favorite Viewing Site for the Races

central island restaurant   was purchased 1n 1955 by the borrelli family   60 years later still BORRELLIS RESTAURANT
____________________________________________

Hi Frank, thanks for solving the mystery. I have enjoyed your family’s restaurant for many years!

From Amazing Aerials from the Cradle of Aviation: #2 1955 Mitchel Field and Salisbury Park Updated: 2/13

I could be wrong, but to help clarify the 1954 incident of the boy on the Central Av bridge, the bridge had already been “removed” by 1950. That leaves the assumption that only the center of the bridge over the LIRR was removed, leaving the north and south abutments intact, perhaps to be removed at a later date. The boy, living on Norcross, had climbed the north embankment nearest his home, where it collapsed and fell below, but not over the center railroad tracks. Any thoughts on this is welcomed.

From Mystery Foto #6 Solved:A View From the Central Avenue/LIRR Railroad Bridge in Bethpage Updated: 2/13