NYC Installed Secret Mailboxes for Love Letters, and It Is a Real-Life Rom-Com
New York City is fast-paced, with most conversations happening through texts, calls, and short in-person exchanges. This Valentine’s season, another form of expression has appeared inside cafés, boutiques, and neighborhood shops across parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
Bright red mailboxes now collect handwritten, anonymous love letters, and these physical notes have temporarily turned neighborhood businesses into hubs for personal and romantic messages.
The initiative is called Love Letters of New York City, a Valentine’s-season public art project created by a private art collective. Around a dozen mailboxes were installed for a limited period, inviting people to drop in letters addressed to a person, a place, a memory, or New York itself. Names or return addresses were not required. Participants only needed paper, ink, and something meaningful they wanted to express.
A Citywide Love Story Hidden in Plain Sight
The mailboxes were placed inside locations where people often pause during daily routines. Coffee shops, jewelry stores, bookstores, and small neighborhood businesses became places where people could also choose to write something personal.
Participants wrote across a wide emotional range. Letters included romantic confessions, gratitude notes, reflections on loss, playful crushes, and complicated goodbyes. Some focused on partners or friends. Others honored people who had passed away.
Anonymity appeared to help many writers share thoughts they might normally keep private. Without signatures, participants felt more comfortable expressing personal emotions. This helped turn the mailboxes into emotional drop points spread across several neighborhoods.
From Flower Notes to a Citywide Experiment
Image via Facebook/POPUP Florist
The project was created by POPUPFLORIST and founded by Kelsie Hayes, who noticed the emotional impact of handwritten notes while running her floral business. Customers frequently included personal messages with arrangements. Those notes helped inspire the idea of expanding handwritten expression into public spaces.
The concept developed into the Love Letter Gallery, which has now run for at least two consecutive years. In one recent campaign, organizers reported collecting more than 1,000 letters.
What Happens to the Letters
After the collection ends, organizers select 30 letters to anchor a one-day public exhibition. Each chosen letter is paired with a custom floral arrangement that reflects the emotional tone of the message. Joy, longing, gratitude, and heartbreak are interpreted through different visual styles. The letters remain anonymous.
The gallery opens on February 7, allowing visitors to read letters written by strangers and experience them as part of a physical art installation.