Vanderbilt Cup Races

Where could there even be an entrance to the Motor Parkway from Hicksville?  The race routes of the Vanderbilt Cups were only temporary routes that went into Hicksville territory and weren’t actually parts of the Motor Parkway.  Otherwise, the closest most logical points of entry to the parkway nearest to Hicksville would either be Jerusalem ave or Newbridge rd.  Going by the picture I’m going to say that the vehicle is in front of the Newbridge hotel which is very close to the parkway.  There was also the “borrow pit” area near here on the south side of the parkway west of Newbridge rd opposite the hotel.  This would seemingly be a big enough area to construct an additional toll lodge for access to the parkway.  The car in question in the photo is a 1909 “Mitchell”.  H.F. Huettner, (first name Henry) owned a furniture store on the northeast corner of Marie st and Broadway.  It later became Whelan drugs.  I think he was born in Germany.

From Mystery Friday Foto #29 Partially Solved: A Mitchell at the "Proposed Entrance to the Motor Parkway at Hicksville"

I have no idea about the car so I won’t embarrass myself with trying but HF Huettner is from Germany and owned a department store on W. Marie st in Hicksville.  I believe his first name was Henry.  As far as the location of the picture, I’m gonna guess somewhere on Division Ave in Hicksville.  That road seems broken up between Hicksville and Levittown and I can assume it was once a connected road that leads straight to the Motor Parkway.  Again, just a guess and I have nothing to back up any of it.

From Mystery Friday Foto #29 Partially Solved: A Mitchell at the "Proposed Entrance to the Motor Parkway at Hicksville"

Solving the easiest question is the car. It looks to be a 1904/5ish Mitchell. Mitchells used many styles of radiators, but this one matches the early cars like this 1904 runabout.

Location is a bit more difficult. Search continues…

From Mystery Friday Foto #29 Partially Solved: A Mitchell at the "Proposed Entrance to the Motor Parkway at Hicksville"

Addendum: The woman was also lucky to observe this blimp landing among the rest of the ground crew.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

In the landed blimp photo, there’s a woman dressed in white, with a white dog besides her, experiencing the blimp landing at LIACC. What a lucky dog!

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Nice catch Greg! Also the white observation steps in the parking area appears in both photos.
There were at least two black suits on the field in the mystery photo, almost similar to the landed blimp photo.
I believe Gary Hammond is correct

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

I like the ‘52 Cadillac custom, a standout!

From Highlights from the 2022 Gold Coast Cruisers Waterfront Car Show in Glen Cove

Frank- if you look at the blimp shadow photo and the mystery photo, you’ll see the two parked cars are the same cars and parked in the same spots. The shadow photo also caught a passing car on the LIMP aside from the other two parked cars.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Richard, you are on target with the Jerusalem Av bridge location in the mystery photo. Excellent distance analysis from the hangars on your part!
The two blimp photos posted, including the mystery photo, could possibly be part of the same series, even though each photo was found from different sources.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

With regard to the flat roof of the hanger. There was a fire and an explosion in the hanger early on. My guess is that it was then that the double curved came into being.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Regarding Brian’s comments of the unpaved sections of the Parkway. We know that the Aviation Club requested an entrance from the Parkway but Vanderbilt turned them down. It appears that Vanderbilt didn’t want to set a precedent. It is obvious that some kind of an arrangement was made that allowed parking on the unpaved portions of the Parkway ROW. In the circa 1937 photo note the stairs over the fence. Also note the double rows of Parkway white cement posts on both sides of the Parkway’s pavement defining the areas autos were restricted to.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

https://www.vanderbiltcupraces.com/blog/article/mystery_friday_foto_15_a_special_day_at_the_long_island_aviation_country_cl

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Great counterpoint!

From Kleiner's Korner: Two Prominent Supporters of Automobile Racing

Blimp wranglers/mechanics makes sense. The mechanics wore white at LIACC. LIFE photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt photos

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Richard, the blimp photo is on the airfields-freeman website: http://www.airfields-freeman.com/NY/Airfields_NY_LongIs_Nassau.htm

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Gary, I added a closeup of the possible “Blimp wranglers.” I believe you may be right.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Where was this photo found, Frank? ! And thanx for the confirmation about the Jerusalem Ave. bridge on today’s map.  (I guess I was right, or at least darn
close, huh?)

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Gary Hammond, I think you could be on to something here. Notice how they are all in white - just as in this photo of a Goodyear blimp at the LIACC. “Blimp wranglers”, to coin a phrase.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

I also thought the mystery was the people all gathered on the ground, as the parking area has been discussed in previous posts.  My thought is that this photo was another one taken from a visiting blimp, and that was the ground crew waiting for it to land.  If you ever saw the blimps landing at Republic, you know what I mean.

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.

Richard, great work! I hope the historic sign comes to fruition soon and available for all to acknowledge early Long Island history at this particular site. It’s an important site to reveal and document. 
The bridge in the photo carried Jerusalem Av over the Motor Pkwy, with future Ciper Ln and Cool Ln very near the bridge proximity. Map below

From Mystery Friday Foto #28 Solved: An early view of the Long Island Aviation Club and a special parking area within the Motor Parkway right-of-way.