📍Wynnefield, West Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA
1968 – 1986“Will Smith was born in Philadelphia in September 1968 and grew up in Wynnefield, a middle-class, largely Black neighbourhood of row houses and leafy streets in West Philadelphia. His father, Willard Sr., was an Air Force veteran who ran a refrigeration business installing equipment in supermarkets, and his mother, Caroline, worked for the Philadelphia school board. He was the second of four children, and his grandmother Helen, a devout church member, was a huge influence, putting on plays at church and encouraging his love of performing. He went to Our Lady of Lourdes, a Catholic elementary school, and then to Overbrook High School. His teachers nicknamed him Prince for the way he could charm his way out of trouble. He has written about his father's strict discipline, and the fear and violence in his home, in his memoir; he learned early to make people laugh and to keep the peace. His father put him and his brother to work, once making them rebuild a crumbling brick wall, which taught him that you build a life one brick at a time. At twelve he started rapping, and in 1985 he met the DJ Jeff Townes at a house party a few blocks from home. As DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, they had their first hit while he was still at Overbrook, and in 1989 won the first Grammy for rap. His sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, about a West Philadelphia boy sent to live in Los Angeles, made him a star, and its theme song made his old neighbourhood famous around the world.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
📍 Street view today