Plus, a rapper seems to think shooting a Philly cop with a toy pellet gun is a good idea.
United States Vice President JD Vance reacting to the new mural of him in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia. (No, this is not really what he is reacting to in this photo. We have no idea what he’s actually reacting to. But the new JD Vance mural in Philadelphia is amusing. Photo via Getty Images)
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Philadelphia Honors JD Vance With His Own Mural in Fishtown
Philadelphia is known as a city of murals. We have thousands of them, some official, some not. The New York Times recently did an in-depth feature on the murals of Philadelphia. In other words, murals are a big deal here. And you can now add a new mural to the list, one depicting United States Vice President JD Vance.
No, this is not a mural using his official White House photo. Far from it. This is a mural of the JD Vance-as-a-bald-fat-baby meme that has been circulating for what seems like forever. The JD Vance Philadelphia mural just went up over the weekend, and this is what it looks like:
The new JD Vance mural in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia (Image via TikTok/@haute_potato)
TikTok user @haute_potato captured the JD Vance mural in a video posted on Sunday that has since garnered close to 775,000 likes and nearly 4,000 comments. Some other amusing TikTok videos on the new JD Vance mural include this one and this time-lapsed one. And here’s the guy who came up with the whole thing. Notably, a similar mural of JD Vance recently popped up in England.
If you’d like to see the Philadelphia mural for yourself, just head to 632 East Girard Avenue.
The End of an Era
If you like incredibly smoky dive bars with incredibly sketchy bathrooms and (at times) incredibly surly bartenders, you should know that one iconic Center City dive bar is closing its doors forever this Friday. I was only puked on once there, but then there was a time that the bartender threw an ice cube that pegged me in the eye. Fare thee well.
In PHL News …
The “worst airport in the country” is getting some new art. Well, if you can call a movie prop art.
Philadelphia International Airport is set to unveil a Rocky statue. Here’s a rendering:
Rendering courtesy Philadelphia Art Commission
By the Numbers
$0: What women pay for menstrual and postpartum products at the three Grab n’ Flow sheds across the city, thanks to this South Philly woman.
2: Philadelphia sandwich spots that just landed on Yelp’s inaugural list of the 100 best sandwich shops in the country. You’ve probably never heard of either. These lists are always so bizarre. If you want an actually credible list about Philadelphia sandwiches and pretty much anything else in Philadelphia, don’t miss our annual Best of Philly list, on newsstands now.
3: Number of times that the rapper Skrilla allegedly shot a Philadelphia police officer with gel pellets from a toy gun during a video production over the weekend in Kensington. I think it’s safe to say that sending any type of projectile in the general direction of a police officer is a really bad idea. So it’s no surprise that the rapper is now facing charges.
Local Talent
It’s hard to talk about the Philadelphia restaurant scene without talking about the impact that Zahav owners Michael Solomonov and Steve Cook have had on it. They now own 13 restaurants plus a sprawling Fishtown event space. Their Zahav hummus is available at Target and Whole Foods. And they still sit on the board of Federal Donuts, the donuts-and-fried chicken chain they recently sold for a ton of cash. For more on the pair and to learn how the hell to get a table at Zahav, check out this brand-new interview.