May 24, 2011

Then and now: Hempstead Turnpike near Loring Road in 1936 and 2010


Click on photos to enlarge

Most of us early Levittowners did a great deal of driving on Hempstead Turnpike. When you were learning how to drive, this may have been the first place you cruised in serious traffic.

Hempstead Turnpike led us to Mays, Caruso's, the Meadowbrook Theater, the America On Wheels roller rink, Jahn's, St. Bernard's Catholic Church, the Israel Community Center, Wetson's, Jolly Roger, Zorn's Poultry Farms, and numerous other key locations.

For me, in the early 1960s, it was the road to classes at Hofstra. In fact, I had my first traffic accident on an icy day in 1962. It wasn't my fault. It was the ice.

At the time of this vintage picture and until 1948, the land that came to be known as Levittown was referred to on maps as Island Trees. Now Hempstead Turnpike is one of the most heavily-traveled arteries in Nassau County, a far cry from the rural road of 1936.

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Photo by Marilyn Monsrud Frese, class of 1963.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Toni Crescenzo Gelfer 1968

There are so many memories of Levittown connected to Hempstead Turnpike..I can't name them all..If you could picture it in the 60's and mentally walk it block by block..anyone who used to live there would encounter an endless flood of happy thoughts..It is our true" Memory Lane"..

Anonymous said...

Dorothy Oppelt 1960

Besides going to all those fabulous establishments along Hempstead Tpke, I remember seeing then Pres. Eisenhower campaigning in a convertible heading toward East Meadow in 1956. And, remember how safe it was to walk along Hempstead Tpke and Newbridge Road - day or night.

Frank Barning said...

Sid's Deli was a favorite place, north side of Turnpike..they sold beer to just about anyone. It was easy for a tall 16-year old to score some Rheingold.

Anonymous said...

Paul Manton wrote: "The man in the photograph is a surveyor overseeing the site of the Wantagh Parkway crossing over Hempstead Turnpike. It was taken in May of 1936. There's another photo, taken on the same day with the same man, taken looking westwards into East Meadow wherein one can see the Berg farm at what's now the Newbridge/Hempstead Tpke. crossing. One of the Bergs' wrote a memoir back in the 1970's about her life growing up on that farm in the 1920's and 30's."

Anonymous said...

From Roslyn Haberman, class of 1961

My family owned The Pantry Deli from about 1952 thru 1963. My mom opened the store and my Dad Joe Haberman sold the Beer crowd late at night there. We watched on Hempstead Turnpike by store when President Kennedy was running for office came by. I used to walk to work down Loring rd to the store for years. Great to look back.Thanks, Roslyn

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