A RARE VIEW OF MASTIC BEACH
The Lagoon Circa early 1930's
In the six years that I have been collecting early Mastic Beach photos, when I find a rare one as I did last winter of The Mastic Beach Store circa 1929 , I say to myself well that must be it, there probably are no more. Then another one comes along like the one below that I have never seen before. Although I have at least six or more views of the Mastic Beach Lagoon scattered through out the website, this one was a puzzler. When I saw the first small low resolution scan of it, I wasn't sure of the orientation, thinking it might of been taken from the Lakeview Drive side of the Riveria looking north. But now that I have possesion of the photo and was able to enlarge it, I am reasonably sure it is looking west down a very narrow Elm Road (which would dead end in a few blocks on the Knapp Estate) as it crossed Whittier Drive on the western lagoon border which is where boats were docked parallel to the shore. What was throwing me was the gambrel roofed house on the far right that probably disappeared in the hurricane of 1938. The other house visible in the background is located on Longfellow Dr. and may be the home of Herman Bendix, who might also own that large express cruiser. Herman was the commodore of the Mastic Beach Yacht Club in the mid 1930's. There is no readable postmark on the back side of this post card with a One Cent Stamp, nor is there a publisher or photo credit. Where the group of cars (newest model appears to be circa 1930-32) are parked, two houses were built in the late 30's early 40's and both are still there. The sign on the pagoda says Please Stay Off The Race Course During Races and you can see a race boat N-305 in the foreground.. The earliest regatta that I know of that Mastic Beach Yacht Club held was in1933, but I'm sure there are records to either support that idea or refute it. I have enlarged sections of the photo so you can get an even better look. Other interesting items are the Oil Lantern? mounted on the pole. As always, if you got photos of any type of early Mastic, Mastic Beach or Shirley I'd like to see them.
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The Roads Appear To Be About 20 Feet Wide. That House May Of Floated Over To The Other Side and Mouth Of The Lagoon In The Hurricane Of 38' ? If it did its still there and quite a showplace,
Notice The Knickers On The Guy Noticing The Boat!
BELOW IS A UNDATED PHOTO OF HERMAN BENDIX AND HIS BOAT
Herman Bendix worked as a private chauffuer in the early 1900's