Vanderbilt Cup Races

I believe this is the Southern State parkway facing west. Corona Avenue exit/Bridge is in the foreground. Central Avenue would be next westbound exit.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Expansion of the Southern State Pkwy in Valley Stream, including construction of the 10 cent toll booths to help pay for the project. This 1954 photo is looking west. That’s the Fletcher Ave overpass at the bottom. The backstreet on the right is Greenway Blvd where disgruntled motorist would travel to avoid the toll. Same practice occurred on the south side. It’s reported that traffic at times would back up all the way to East Meadow! After a brief toll increase to 25 cents, frustrated Long Islanders revolted, resulting in the removal of the toll plaza sometime in the late ‘70’s

Ten years earlier, this was all farmland

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Howard
  Well done as usual. Always finding out things that you wouldn’t have known about and very interesting articles with pictures with it. Thanks for sharing it. Take care.

From New York Daily News July 30, 2014: The thief, the enthusiast, and the one-of-a-kind “Shorty” Ford Mustang.

Looks like NYC skyline in the background… 3 smokestacks near Astoria.  If so, then possibly early days of the LIE construction.  Congestion with housing also suggests Queens, possibly at the turn heading east prior to Queens Blvd.  Problem with this guess is that clearance from that overpass is way too low for trucks (unless those seen in the photo were updated later on). One of the more interesting Mystery photos.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

That looks like the western end of the Southern State Parkway with the photographer over Elmont / Valley Stream looking west toward Springfield Gardens. Under construction are the toll booths and the north extension of the Central Avenue bridge over the widened parkway. Since the tool booths opened in June of 1954, this photo probably dates from late 1953 or early 1954. Another road in the picture is Linden Blvd.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Southern State Pkwy looking east at Valley Stream.  Toll booths under construction about 1953.  Fletcher Ave in foreground.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

A guess. Based upon what appear to be the Ravenswood smokestacks of the ConEd plant in LIC and the Elmhurst gas tanks (well before they were torn down), the view is looking northwest from the Southern State Parkway when the toll booths were being constructed as part of the financing of the 4th lane heading eastbound to Eagle Ave/Peninsula Blvd. Probably taken in the during the early/mid ‘50s.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Westbound Southern state Valley Stream, widening at old toll plaza. 1940s-1950.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

It looks like the construction of the Southern State Parkway toll plaza in Valley Stream. The photographer is facing west with the new Fletcher Ave bridge in the foreground as the parkway is widened in this area. The “V” jog of Southern Drive and Greenway Bldv. along the north side confirms this. I recall that the toll was 10 cents in the beginning. Given the buildup in the area I would put the date as the mid fifties.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

The photographer is over North valley Stream looking west at the widening of the Southern State Parkway. The north/south road at the bottom is Fletcher Ave. going over the Parkway. The dreaded toll plaza is under construction as well. The tollbooths opened on July 1, 1954. It’s likely that this picture was taken in 1953. The toll was 10 cents and increased to 25 cents in 1975. The toll booths were removed on July 1,1978.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Greg, Willie wasn’t a reckless spender. In fact he lived well within his means. He didn’t have “real money” until his father died in 1920 receiving an inheritance of $20,000,000 plus dollars. In 1931, during the Great Depression, he took deliver of the yacht Alva, I believe it was the largest yacht in the world at the time… and promptly went on a seven month cruise around the world. He died in 1944 leaving an estate of more than $36, 000,000. Let’s do the math. $20,000,000 in 1920… $36,000,000 in 1944, living the high life in between… The next generation didn’t fare that well because the inheritance tax at the time was 90% .... thats not a typo.

From Greg O's Garage: The 1930 Motor Parkway license plate/season ticket holders Part I

This looks like the Southern State Parkway facing east at exit 13.  The overpass in the foreground carries Elmont rd over the parkway.  In the distance the toll plaza is being constructed shortly before its opening on July 1st 1954.  So, maybe this is May or June of 1954.  I’m typing this just a few hours after traversing this nightmare of a road.  Imagine if this toll plaza was still there?  Paying and being delayed even more to attempt to drive through the so called “blood alley”?  Nassau county’s deadliest parkway.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Eric,
Al, as always, is correct. Willie K’s mother Alva, had an insatiable will to build extravagant estates and was to a certain degree, the beginning of the end. By that time, the later generations were better at spending the fortunes of the Commodore and William Henry, rather than working hard to maintain it. Willie K, and the rest of the 4th+ generations simply furthered the spending spree watering it down to next to nothing today. The preface of the book, ‘William K. Vanderbilt ll A Biography’ written by former Vanderbilt Museum President Steven Gittelman gives a little insight to this.

From Greg O's Garage: The 1930 Motor Parkway license plate/season ticket holders Part I

Im thinking this is the construction of the toll booths on the Southern State Pkwy. We are in Valley Stream, looking west, with the Fletcher Ave (Henry St.). bridge in the foreground. The exit and entrance ramps are nearly completed. The roads on the right, roughly paralleling the parkway are Southern Dr (closest to the cluster of trees) and then Greenway Blvd. The Cross Island may be visible in the distance.
The toll booths are obviously being constructed near the center of the photo. They would be demolished in 1978 (after a public outcry for raising the toll from 10 cents to 25 cents), a year after the state took over control and maintenance of the parkway from the Long Island State Parks Commission. This stretch was constructed between 1925 and 1927, so I would place the photo in that time period.

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

Eric, My spin on your one upping comment is that it started with Alva Vanderbilt, Willie’s mother.

From Greg O's Garage: The 1930 Motor Parkway license plate/season ticket holders Part I

Frank, There is a picture of a Parkway paper season ticket in the Spring 2000 issue of Long Island Forum magazine. Your library most likely has a copy in their reference section.

From Greg O's Garage: The 1930 Motor Parkway license plate/season ticket holders Part I

I recognize the Foto as an aerial of the Southern State Parkway during its widening. The photographer is in North Valley Stream, looking west. The original parkway (lower left), with E-bound and W-bound lanes now separated by a concrete barrier, became the E-bound parkway, while the new roadway became the W-bound parkway.

The widening project started in 1954, so the Foto must have been taken then, or shortly thereafter.

I recognize Fletcher Avenue (overpass, bottom of Foto) and Greenway Boulevard (right), but not any other roads. Central Avenue would be in the distance, but I can’t see it.

The toll booths on the wide future median are what actually gave it away for me. I was unaware that they were built during the widening project, but I remember when they were there. My dad used to use Greenway Boulevard to bypass the toll. I also remember when the tolls were removed (and a sign was erected that read: “Welcome to Long Island / Toll Free / Mario Cuomo, Governor”).

From Mystery Friday Foto #51 Solved: Widening of the Southern State Parkway near the toll booths around 1954

J Dixon Byrne-
I think I might have commented to you previously. Here is the original county records with costs on your home from 1955 at 25 Crabapple.
-Greg O.

From Greg O's Garage: Clarence Mackay's Harbor Hill estate in Roslyn (now East Hills)

Been following info on the Mackay Estate since childhood. Lived at 25 Crabapple Drive. About 1955. First owners. Original home demolished. It was one of the first built. Played thru out the woods. Wrote a sci-fi screenplay the adventures of seven children transported back in time to the night the of Wales visited Clarence. Thx for the research.

From Greg O's Garage: Clarence Mackay's Harbor Hill estate in Roslyn (now East Hills)

This is great! A lot of prominent figures of the time.

The fundamental problem with LIMP is it was part of a massive one upping contest (by the Vanderbilt grandchildren) that squandered the Vanderbilt fortune that Cornelius and William Henry worked so hard to create. Massive disrespect to their sacrifices.

Yet this is a topic rarely discussed—how come?

From Greg O's Garage: The 1930 Motor Parkway license plate/season ticket holders Part I