PHP Unix to Date -

when var_dump particular variable, get:

'date' => int 1410307200

when var_dump date('f j y', strtotime($start_date)), get:

string 'january 1 1970' (length=14)

i same output when don't use strtotime.

why keep returning epoch time?

you're calling strtotime() on unix timestamp. that's redundant , error:

echo date('f j y', $start_date)