‘Dave is single’ billboard floods West Philly man with thousands of DMs

David “Dave” Cline, a 28-year-old West Philadelphia resident who can cook, has normal hobbies, and has a cat named Peach, has taken an unconventional approach to finding a date by purchasing a billboard.

The billboard, located at 1309 S. 34th Street, features a photo of Cline and has captured the attention of Philadelphians and singles from as far away as Ghana and Indonesia since its unveiling on July 24.

The Instagram page @date_dave_philly, listed on the billboard, has seen thousands of messages from people near and far, including Wisconsin, Germany, and Australia. In just over a week, Cline’s follower count surged to more than 6,000, with many showing their support and interest.

“I’ve already thought about shutting it down a few times because it’s just too popular for me to handle,” he said. “I really was not expecting this type of reaction and support from it — it’s crazy, just insanity.”

However, Cline’s primary goal for the billboard was not to secure a date. Instead, he wanted to “make people smile” with what he calls a “massive waste of money.”

“I think the financial strain this will cause is equal to how funny I think it’ll be, so that was really the only deciding factor [in doing a billboard],” he said.

Initially, the billboard was meant to be just a graphic of Cline and “something like ‘hey, I’m Dave’” and no call to action. But at the last minute, Cline decided that aiming to find a date would be more amusing.

“It’s relatable and a little less narcissistic — instead of just being featured on a billboard that my friends and I can laugh at [with me as] the butt of the joke, now everyone else can laugh too,” he said.

The $1,154 billboard has been quite effective for Cline’s dating life. About 80% of Philadelphians reaching out are singles looking to date the “billboard guy.”

Sorting through messages from genuine daters and those seeking clout is a welcome change from using dating apps, according to Cline.

“Dating apps just suck for the most part,” he added. “Even if you’ve paid for a subscription on a dating app to find people, it’s really hard to not internalize all those negative thoughts — like not only am I single, but now I’m undateable [according to the algorithm].”

Cline is down to meet lots of different people who meet his bare minimum requirements: You must be in your mid- to late-20s or early 30s, left-leaning, and “not weird about pronouns and people just trying to live their lives,” not mean or “overly evil,” and have a sense of humor.

If this sounds like you, slide in to his DMs and Cline will take you out to Ray’s Happy Birthday bar on East Passyunk Avenue for PBR or High Life drafts.

Cline suggests messaging something unique — or more than just “‘hi, is this real?’”— to get a reply back. And if you’re just here for the cat pictures, he promises to do his best to get back to you as soon as possible.

“Just remember I’m a guy, and I’m trying to do something funny to make people laugh and not to take this too seriously,” he said.