Where New Yorkers Got Their Hearts Broken

"He dumped me because I liked a specific breed of dogs too much.”

Apr 06, 2025

A few years ago I had the idea to ask people where they got their heart broken. I was processing a breakup, and overnight the geography of the city had changed. Lines were drawn. Places I’d once loved were now utterly off limits.

I asked friends to share the locations they avoided, then traveled around to photograph them. But the idea drifted away, the files stay on my computer.

Time passed, my own spots multiplied. My friends’ spots multiplied. I hate their exes’ apartment buildings with a vengeance.

I kept thinking about making a book.

In March I took to Reddit, posting in every New York thread I could find. I got hundreds of responses. I chose a few and photographed the locations. I can’t thank enough everyone who shared their stories.

I’d be remiss not to say these responses carry a lot of love and a lot of pain. Many mention death.

This is an ongoing project. If you’d like to share yours, here’s an anonymous survey:

Emotional Landmark Survey

“Le Zie, an Italian restaurant in Chelsea. I got dumped there, and it's the one time my heart was broken. That was almost twelve years ago, and I've never been the same since.”

“Right outside the Fraunces Tavern, on Broad Street. That's the spot I last saw my first girlfriend before she passed away a few weeks later. I didn't even take a minute to speak with her because I didn't want to be late for work. One of the biggest regrets I'll carry for the rest of my life.”

“Bitter End. Last date with my ex husband.”

“As a Midtown working girl, Bryant Park was my happy place and oasis for years. I loved the gardens, the restaurants, the people watching and especially the bathroom with full-time attendant and fresh flowers and classical music piped in. Then I had a miscarriage in that bathroom after excruciating pelvic pain. I couldn’t even see what all came out of me because of the automatic flush toilets. But that was the end of my pregnancy. I can’t say I never go there, but it’s not the same.”

“23rd St stop on the F line. The turnstiles open directly onto the platform and thats where I kissed a guy for the last time before he ghosted me... Every time I’m on the subway and see them, I think about him.”

“The entrance to the subway part of Grand Central off Lex at like 44th. It’s the spot where I would say hello and goodbye to my ex when we were first together.”

“There’s an outdoor table at the levee, he dumped me because I liked a specific breed of dogs too much.”

“The sidewalk just outside of the old St Vincent's Hospital. Watched my boyfriend breakdown in tears while getting into a limo on his way to the airport going home to his native Australia to die of AIDS in 1992.”

“Williamsburg, oh how it’s changed”

“Avenue A, Tompkins Park, the old Odessa bar and restaurant, all the old music venues that are gone because of stupid fucking Vice media, Saint Vitus Bar, etc.”

“El Camion Cantina on Avenue A. Used to go almost every weekend with someone who would later shatter my heart. I can’t even walk by now.”

“Corner of West Broadway and Grand. Was standing there when I saw the second plane hit the towers.”

“LimeTree Deli reminds me of my bff that no longer speaks to me. I don't know where it is or if it still exists.”

“For five or six years, I couldn't walk Orchard Street south of Broome without tears streaming down my face. It's where I fell in love for the first time, sleeping over almost every night at my then-boyfriend's apartment, two doors down from The Fat Radish. We used to have dinner there three times a week; the servers knew him so well that they'd save a table for us. We used to run out to the corner store together for cigarettes because we hated being apart from each other…I didn't know it was possible to be so in love.”