In this age of dating apps, many jaded and frustrated singles have shunned the modern curse of swiping on their phones and looked for other ways to put themselves out there.
One man named Dave — we’ll just keep it at Dave — has taken putting himself out there to a whole other level, though, by putting his search for a date up on a billboard in West Philly.
How did this billboard come about? Was someone playing a prank on poor Dave? Was this a case of somebody cracking after one bad date too many?
None of the above. Dave did it for a laugh, to make his friends laugh, and to check something off his bucket list.
“I’ve always thought being on the billboard for no reason would always be funny,” he said. “I was originally just gonna advertise myself, like, ‘I’m Dave and I exist in West Philly. Hi.’ But I figured going with the dating angle would be probably a little bit more funny, a little more relatable, and just more conducive to sharing stuff about myself.”
The billboard went up a week ago — although it was supposed to go up this past Monday — along with an Instagram account providing more background on Dave, a 28-year-old working in HR data management. It didn’t get much notice until yesterday, when someone spotted it and posted about it on X/Twitter.
Dave’s DM’s have started blowing up ever since.
“It’s been probably around like 60 DMs, just today [Tuesday], which is probably more than I’ve ever gotten in my lifetime, because I just generally don’t use Instagram like that,” he said.
It isn’t all for laughs though. If love comes a calling, Dave will answer.
“I thought maybe on the off chance someone did think I was cute, they would hit me up,” he said. “So if I get one date out of this then it’s already like eons beyond worth it, beyond just the funny joke I wanted to do to entertain myself and my friends.”
Previously, Dave had fallen into the familiar cycle of downloading the dating apps, having a horrible couple months on them and then deleting them, before eventually going back on to try them again after a couple months. He never ponied up for any of the premium subscriptions, though.
“If I have to pay to have a billboard to avoid going on dating apps, I think it’s almost worth it.” he said.
OK, what did it cost?
The billboard is located near 34th and Wharton Street, near the intersection leaving Grey’s Ferry to get into West Philly.
How much did it cost? $1,136 for a month. Dave said he shopped around and it was the cheapest one he could get, and he wanted one in West Philly, where he lives.
Did anyone try to talk him out of the big financial investment and potential risk to his well-being? Just one friend tried.
“They were like, ‘I think this is a massive waste of money,’ which is true,” he said. “Also they were afraid that weird people were gonna try to find me and it would just make my life harder than it needed to be, which is fair … But, weirdly, I have a lot of faith in Philly.”
The rest backed him up. Some even helped pay for the billboard. Hence why “paid for by friends of Dave” can be written on the bottom.
“I know how it looks if you just put up a billboard of yourself and it’s not tongue-in-cheek at all,” he said. “So having a thumbs-up from like 30 people in my life to go ahead and do this was definitely very, very supportive.”
Dave may be getting a little upstaged by his cat Peach though, who features alluringly in the bottom right corner of the billboard, just below Dave’s thumbs-up. He said he’s been happy to DM folks more photos of Peach, upon request.
So far, Dave says that the feedback has been more positive than he could have ever imagined.
“Every single person has been really genuinely sweet. I’ve yet to see anybody be mean, or messing with me,” he said “Everyone’s just like well wishes, or like ‘Hi, how’s it going,’ and they give me their info and that’s really sweet.”
Deeper into Dave
Much of Dave’s vital dating information is available on the Instagram account: He can cook (well), he enjoys trading-card games like Pokemon, he’s into fermenting, he has REAL friends and will date you if you have dietary restrictions or do not drink. But we thought we’d get a little more info from him.
Dave is straight and left-leaning, politics-wise. He’s open to talking to everyone, but isn’t looking to date someone who’s under 21. Shared interests aren’t necessary, and being able to show each other your worlds and learn from each other is ideal.
“I’ve had like one or two people reach out, they’re like ‘hey, I feel like I’m you, but a girl,’ ” he said. “Like, that’s very flattering, but I don’t want to date me.”
Potential deal breakers are opposing political views, people who mindlessly buy into trends, aren’t unabashedly themselves, and are horribly evil.
“I really don’t have an ideal partner in my head, for the most part,” he said. “I’m really willing to consider anybody, as long as you’re not horrendously mean, or evil, or support terrible people.”
What would the ideal first date be? Food.
“Fortunately or unfortunately, you’re kind of forced to talk to people when you’re eating with them. There’s no outside stressors,” Dave said. “ You can’t really get up and walk away from a dinner date. You gotta really figure out if this is something you want to keep doing.”
When Dave talked with Billy Penn, no dates had been set up yet. The messages only really started coming in Tuesday afternoon. He said he’s tried to respond cordially to as many messages as he could and start some conversations.
So if you want to shoot your shot with Dave, say hi and thanks for the laugh, or request a photo of Peach, slide into his DM’s.
