Your bag is empty.
If you ask food industry workers in Philly where they’re going after their shift ends, you might expect the answer to be one of the chic restaurants that scored Michelin stars this year. Instead, the usual response is much more fun. It’s a heavy metal bar where Philadelphia’s most creative subcultures shine.
You’ll find this bar, Doom, not in the hip Fishtown or popular Rittenhouse sections of Philly, but at the tail end of an area sometimes called Eraserhood because of its connection to filmmaker David Lynch. Across from warehouses and parking lots, you’ll know you’re in the right place by the neon purple skull hanging over the door.
Inside, it’s dark. A pair of black velvet curtains keep out the light so well that newcomers lean on the wall until their eyes adjust. Old horror flicks sometimes play on the wall via projector, and the dark wood bar leaves a medieval feeling, highlighting bottles of liquor through red lights under stained glass bats.
House drinks follow the same vibe, from the Unholy Word (this writer’s favorite), an alcohol-forward punch of Sangre de Cristo red wine, whiskey and orange bitters, to the lighter and sweeter Prismatic Spray Lvl. 2, with house-made orange soda and apple brandy. And the food menu is the kind of good surprise you don’t expect from a bar frequented by roadies ‘til 2 a.m.
But you don’t need to have the latest death metal album to love Doom. Every type of creative is welcome here, with an events calendar ranging from kink community munches to tiki nights.
As a bartender at one of the most aesthetic clubs in Philly, Midnight and the Wicked, Serra Calvert is used to being asked for her opinions on the best nightlife, and Doom has a special place in her heart. It’s helped her create the support network she has today.
“One of my best friends, I met her at metal head karaoke at Doom,” she said, “and we live down the street from each other now.” That sort of community is common at Doom. Despite the skull and crosses decor, it’s a place that gives people the warm and fuzzies.
Hanna Williams is co-owner of the immensely popular restaurant Friday Saturday Sunday, which is always booked solid with visitors dying to try their Michelin-celebrated menu. But there was just one place to celebrate that star with her staff.
“We bought Doom out after we were awarded a Michelin star and had an epic blowout,” she says. A life-long Philadelphian, Williams knows the best spots in the city. She was at Doom on its opening weekend and is a frequent face at events like Tropical Hell tiki night. “It’s the most honest atmosphere in the city. Come as you are, be whoever the hell that is.”
And people do exactly that, with Doom’s support.
The Philadelphia LARP Society’s Club Velvet is celebrating its sixth event, where founder Raquel Skellington and her colleagues turn the second floor event space into a sexy 90’s goth wonderland of candelabras and roses. “So, so many roses,” she laughs.
Her symbiosis with the bar creates a safe space where people can feel free to express themselves at vampire-themed roleplay, while guests at the bar below sneak peaks.“People access an active flowing world. We made these windows where the vampires look down from the second floor” and their curiosity is piqued, Skellington says. “We’ve had maybe 35 people come back for Club Velvet.”
Even though she’s been a professional in the field of world building for years, even working with big names like Red Bull to build immersive experiences, not everyone gets what she’s doing. There’s still a challenge in getting Philly establishments to partner because they may think of the art form as adults playing dress-up, or even not “give us the time of day,” she says. But Justin Holden, owner of Doom, got it right away. “When I met Justin, I felt like a fool because I had no business cards on me at the time, and I wrote my information on a slip of paper, and I handed it to him and he goes, this is worth more than any business card.” Holden is much more interested in the food and drink aspect of events, like Internationally Doomed, a collaboration of spirits, meals and metal bands from around the world.
Skellington and Holden will partner again when the Philadelphia LARP Society sets the stage for Doom’s second annual Miss American Vampire of Philadelphia Pageant in October. Skellington will act as judge as contestants answer questions and briefly show off their dark arts. Last year that included violin playing and various states of burlesque.
Philadelphia is maybe the best example of a city that thrives in the high-and-low. The food and drinks at Doom are good — let’s not forget that — but there’s a certain glow to places that allow subcultures to coexist under the same roof, experiment and thrive, whether that’s heavy metal quizzo fans, tiki enthusiasts or vampires.