Video: Letters To Santa Going To Chelsea Couple

John Del Signore

Published Dec 24, 2010

Modified Dec 24, 2010

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John Del Signore

Published Dec 24, 2010

Modified Dec 24, 2010

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For the past few years, right around Christmastime, West 22nd Street residents Jim and Dylan have received a trickle of letters from children written to Santa Claus, but mistakenly addressed to their apartment. They shrugged off the letters as a peculiar mystery, but that all changed this year when their mailbox was flooded with 400 letters to Santa.

They have no idea why children around the tri-state area think Santa resides in their Chelsea flat, but this Christmas they decided to do something about it. (Hope these kids like Babs albums and muscle shirts!) Filmmakers Sarah Klein and Tom Mason made this charming little movie about their seasonal predicament:

On City Room, Klein reports that she made some phone calls to try and solve the mystery, and what she came up with is pretty confusing. One person told her she got the number from a teacher in an English as a Second Language class in the Bronx. "The teacher said that if they wrote the address, Santa might write them back," Klein explains. "The second phone call led me to a mother who said she got the address on the post office Web site when she typed in Santa." A third woman said her daughter got the address from her school, but when Klein called the school, administrators professed ignorance.

So the mystery lives on. But if Santa has to have a stand-in, we're glad its Jim and Dylan. Just look at their apartment—these guys have impeccable taste! (Unless... Jim and Dylan ARE Santa?!)

Tagged

chelsea santa

christmas

miracle on 22nd street

santa

santa claus

John Del Signore

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Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.

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