One of Greenwich Village's most cherished 'secret alleys,' Grove Court, a private courtyard fronting a row of quaint Federal-style dwellings, was built between 1848-1852 as a working-class development -- contemporary well-to-do families wouldn't consent to housing set back from the streetside -- by a forward-thinking grocer who hoped to seed the neighborhood with customers. The residents worked in local breweries and the court was called "Mixed Ale Alley". The community now stands much as it did at the turn of the twentieth century, when it was the setting for O. Henry's celebrated story "The Last Leaf."