Will Smith returns to West Philadelphia to celebrate a street named in his honor

Will Smith returned to his West Philadelphia neighborhood on Wednesday, where a jubilant crowd greeted him with a street renamed in his honor, a basketball court dedicated to him, a key to the city, a letterman jacket stitched with his name, and not one but two Overbrook High baseball hats.

“This is the City of Brotherly Love, sisters in charge, Super Bowl champions, the birthplace of Mother’s Day … and the home of Will Smith,” said host Mannwell Glenn, enumerating the city’s claims to fame as he brought Smith to the stage.

Smith grew up at 59th and Woodcrest in the Wynnefield section of West Philadelphia, and the city officially renamed the 2000 block of North 59th Street, a four-lane thruway that includes a bridge over railroad tracks, in the global superstar’s honor. State Rep. Morgan Cephas said the newly-named street would help tell the story of the city, “particularly at a time in this nation where our history is being erased, our names are being removed from websites.”

Fans and neighbors crowded the intersection at 59th and Lancaster, sporting “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” bucket hats and dancing to DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince’s 1988 “Brand New Funk” as it blasted from the speakers. The rapper and actor is on a media tour ahead of the release of his first solo album since 2005, Based on a True Story, which comes out March 28.

No one could be happier to see Smith than his former neighbors and longtime friends in this corner of Philadelphia.

“All those days we walked across that bridge,” said Lady B, the legendary DJ and one of the first female rappers, who has her own street named after her nearby. “Now I can tell people, all right, if you want to get to my old crib, make a left on Will Smith Way.”

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker publicly asked for Smith’s presence at a special Semiquincentennial version of the annual Fourth of July concert on the Parkway in 2026, alongside “every creative genius that has come out of Philadelphia,” including The Roots, Jill Scott, and Meek Mill. Smith promised to be there and to do what he could to invite the others.

Smith’s mother, Caroline Bright, sat next to him onstage in a blue suit, a bouquet of flowers in her arms. His algebra and precalculus teacher from Overbrook, Brenda Brown, watched her former student appreciatively from the audience. Smith said his teacher seeded the idea for his star moniker when he was a 10th grader at Overbrook and she started calling him “Prince Charming.”

“The name ‘The Fresh Prince’ was coined in that building,” Smith said, pointing to Overbrook High. “She called me ‘Prince’ and I added the ‘fresh’ because it was hip-hop slang. Thank you for that, Ms. Brown.”

Afterward Brown, who taught at Overbrook and the William W. Bodine High School for International Affairs for more than 30 years before retiring in 2002, said Smith was always bright.

“He was just a charming person, just like he is now,” she said. “He has shared with me that I had to discipline him, but I think I blocked out all of that because of the charm.”

She said she has kept in touch with the Smith family over the years and planned to be with them for Easter. Smith often brings his family, alongside Brown and other “older friends,” in a limo to his movie premieres in Philadelphia, she said.

Two Overbrook students had heard the commotion across the street from their digital media class and received permission from their teacher to join the fray. They were delighted that Smith now has a letterman jacket to match the orange and black volleyball team jackets they both wore. They had of course seen Smith in a framed picture on the walls of their high school; now they’ve seen him in real life, too.

“That guy’s a legend,” said Shaniya Hall, a 17-year-old junior. “Everybody loves him.”