KEY POINTS:
A tale of online love inspired usually cynical New Yorkers this week to help a young man find the girl of his dreams after he spotted her on a crowded subway train.
For web designer Patrick Moberg, 21, from Brooklyn, it was love at first sight when he locked eyes with a rosy-cheeked woman while riding in Manhattan on Sunday night. She was writing in her journal.
The train was so full that he lost her in the crowd when they both got off, so he set up a website dedicated to finding the mystery woman nygirlofmydreams.com.
He drew a picture of the girl, who was wearing blue shorts, blue tights, and a red flower in her hair, and posted his cell phone number, email address and an appeal for help finding her.
It worked.
Within hours Moberg's inbox was overflowing with emails and his phone ringing non-stop. He told the New York Post that he even received emails offering him love.
"Some people said I'm not the girl but you're so adorable, pick me instead."
On Tuesday night a friend of the woman contacted him and sent him a picture so he could confirm her identity.
"Found Her! Seriously!" a notice on his website said.
"We've been put in touch with one another and we'll see what happens."
The mysterious subway brunette was named on Thursday as Camille Hayton, an intern at magazine BlackBook from Melbourne, Australia, who also lives in Brooklyn.
"This is crazy. I can't believe it's happening," Hayton, 22, told the New York Post.
But Moberg said he is now pulling the shutters on his love life, scribbling out the cell phone number on his website and leaving a message on his phone saying he will do no more interviews.
"In our best interest, there will be no more updates to this website," he wrote.
"Unlike all the romantic comedies and bad pop songs, you'll have to make up your own ending for this."
Some New Yorkers may already, wondering if Moberg had made it sound too easy to find a needle in a haystack in this city of eight million people.
- REUTERS
