It\u2019s a red letter Valentine\u2019s Day in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n
A citywide campaign where New Yorkers write anonymous love letters and place them in red mailboxes inside small businesses \u2014 dubbed the Love Letter Gallery<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 received over 1,000 notes this year, addressed to everyone from spouses and lovers to doormen and roommates.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Love Letter Gallery was created to celebrate love in all its forms. It\u2019s truly\u00a0a feel good project, meant to share stories of love, loss and connection,\u201d the project\u2019s founder, East Villager Kelsie Hayes, told The Post.<\/p>\n The Love Letter Gallery received more than 1,000 notes this year, addressed to everyone from spouses and lovers to doormen and roommates. Carly Tice \/ The Love Letter Gallery<\/p>\n The mailboxes were scattered across Manhattan and Brooklyn from coffee shops like Caffe Paradiso in SoHo and The Elk in Nolita to the West Village jewelry store Tarin Thomas and Greenpoint\u2019s Big Night, a dinner party speciality shop.<\/p>\n Thirty of the standout letters \u2014 some heartwarming, while others heartbreaking \u2014 were then chosen to be featured in a\u00a0one-day exhibition<\/a> on Feb. 7 at the SoHo gallery HOST on Howard<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI am not brave enough to tell you this in person, so I am doing it here,\u201d one heartfelt letter began. \u201cYou mean so much to me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know how you do it, but you make everything feel lighter just by being you,\u201d another gushed.<\/p>\n One was even addressed to New York City: \u201cThe one I got to love, and who finally loved me back.\u201d<\/p>\n Hayes<\/a>, the owner of POPUPFLORIST<\/a> \u2014 who\u00a0launched the labor of love last year \u2014 paired the letters with floral arrangements inspired by their words for the exhibit.<\/p>\n The red mailboxes were placed in small businesses throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Love Letters Gallery<\/p>\n One submission was an homage to a bookstore employee. Carly Tice \/ The Love Letter Gallery<\/p>\n A sultry note stood out at last year\u2019s exhibit. Carly Tice \/ The Love Letter Gallery<\/p>\n Last year\u2019s winning letters included ones for unrequited loves, like \u201cthe most beautiful girl who works in the bookshop,\u201d to whom the writer hadn\u2019t yet mustered up the courage to talk.<\/p>\n There was also a heartfelt love letter penned to New York from \u201can artist with big dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m in love with you, but also with my high school sweetheart who isn\u2019t able to move here and it sometimes feels as though my heart is torn on two different countries,\u201d the letter said.<\/p>\n A sultry letter sizzled up the exhibit: \u201cThe sex was so good, the neighbors lit a cigarette after.\u201d<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t