Elmhurst has more alleys than you might think, and some didn’t start out as alleys, like Claremont Terrace, a dirt road off Dongan Avenue, all that is left of the carriageway that led to the four mansions built by British entrepreneur Samuel Lord (of Lord & Taylor) for his four daughters in the mid-19th Century.
Another one is this L-shaped path, O’Connell Court, which looks fairly humdrum on its 50th Avenue end, just west of 90th Street. But as with life, see things through and you will get a reward. If you follow it to the end, where it suddenly turns east, you get a spectacular view of Newtown High School, the Flemish Gothic pile that’s the tallest building in the neighborhood, especially in winter.
When taking this photo, you’re also standing in front of the boyhood home of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, whose family moved here from Trenton, NJ when he was six.
10/9/13