RIP JOMAR SKULL




The Jomar Skull was a beloved icon of South Philly for years and years, a beacon to the freaks of the city to show that we were LOVED and APPRECIATED and NURTURED. Usually when people visited me and wanted to "see the sights" I'd make sure they saw the Haunted Jingle Bell Factory and The Jomar Skull ASAP because how else could I explain the strange, exciting environment I existed in ?

For those who don't know: Jomar is a discount store in Philly that sells clothes, fabric, expired vitamins, weird old toys. You really never know what you'll be getting and everything is so cheap ! The South Philly location was the classic branch for me, huge and confusing and dank and covered in decades old grime. So while this rotting foam skull outside was not actually part of Jomar, it just fit the vibe so well that everyone called it The Jomar Skull. It was always such a treat to go buy a bunch of weird cool stuff and say hi to our weird cool friend outside !

When it disappeared in the middle of 2020 I saw it as a reflection of the changing times. Alot of what I loved about Philly when I first started hanging out there in 2014 was rapidly changing, bulldozed into oblivion and totally forgotten. It's so strange to lose so many things you love, so many things that make your everyday life special. Maybe it seems silly to project so much meaning onto some random object, and maybe I'm feeling some wave of nostalgia for how I felt in my early 20's when I was seeing the skull all the time, but there is a certain magic to something that seems totally impossible being so out in the open. I loved it dearly, and now that it's corporeal form has been taken away I thought I'd make this tribute page to it.

I miss you old friend.