We're launching a new blog called This Is New York, where we get a little more conversational. We hope you like it.
So, you're inspired by all those Parisian bridges and you and your sweetheart want to inscribe your initials on a padlock and fasten it to the Brooklyn Bridge. Maybe consider...not doing that. Why? Because the Department of Transportation will saw your lock off the bridge and throw it in a landfill, which would make for a great metaphor about the nature of love and everything, but it stinks for your great romantic gesture.
If you're at a loss for how to declare your love by methods that won't rankle city agencies, here are a few alternatives:
1. Pull a Miranda and Steve, or a Tina Fey and Peter Dinklage, and start a date by meeting in the middle of the bridge. Watch the sun set, head to a cute restaurant nearby. No locks needed.
2. Are you intent on disposing of some metal with your true love? Then find a fountain to throw some pennies into, like the one in Bryant Park, where the money collected from the fountain goes towards the not-for-profit park's upkeep — and you get to keep your wish forever. Win win.
3. Can't get those Brooklyn Bridge love locks out of your head? Look up the lockpicks who volunteer their services to keep the bridge clean and take your date to join them.
4. Donate your hair to disadvantaged child chemo patients together. It's still Locks of Love!
Do you have a story about the love locks on the Brooklyn Bridge that we need to hear? Tell us about it in the comments below!
