JFK used to be Idlewild. LaGuardia was North Beach Airport, and before that, Glenn H. Curtiss Airport.
But predating both was little Flushing Airport, just a mile from where LaGuardia would be built (as this 1960s-era Texaco road map reveals).
“Flushing Airport was opened in 1927 as Speed’s Airport (named for former owner Anthony “Speed” Hanzlick),” states airfields-freeman.com. “It became the busiest airport in New York City for a time.”
Once LaGuardia hit the scene, four-runway Flushing lost traffic. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was used for blimps. It shut down in 1984.
A similar fate befell Holmes Airport, launched in 1929 by a real estate developer on 220 acres in Jackson Heights.
Holmes was busy—for a time. Eastern scheduled flights to Miami; bizarre promotions offered $1 short flights.
But then ground broke for LaGuardia. Holmes’ owners tried to get a court injunction to stop construction.
It didn’t work. LaGuardia opened in 1939; Holmes closed in 1940. The Bulova Watch Factory was built on the site.
Ephemeral New York 