PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Will Smith is a Philadelphia legend, a rapper, actor and film producer who has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and four Grammys. On Wednesday, he added another accomplishment to his list, one that made a permanent mark on his hometown.
“Now therefore be it resolved that the council of the city of Philadelphia hereby proposes the renaming of the 2000 block of 59th Street to ‘Will Smith Way,’” read Council President Kenyatta Johnson.
Hundreds gathered to watch as the bridge from Wynnefield to Overbrook High School was renamed in honor of the West Philly native, who also received a key to the city.
“I walked across this bridge for my whole high school career in snow and rain,” Smith recalled. “I grew up at 59th and Woodcrest in Wynnefield. I was walking over but I was running back.”
The star took the opportunity to reflect on Will Smith Way not only as a sign, but as a metaphor for life.
“I started saying to myself, ‘What does that mean, what is the Will Smith Way?’ When I thought about the Will Smith Way, the Will Smith Way is encompassed in the lessons I got from my mother, my father and my grandmother,” he said.
Those lessons, he explained, included hard work and discipline from his father.
“When things get hard you have to be willing to suffer to change the circumstances,” he said. “Nobody gets an easy ride. That is one of the things these streets of Philadelphia taught me. There is nothing wrong with a hard day's work.”
Meanwhile, his mother focused on education. “My mother was very, very serious about education and understanding that my mind was going to be the key to my dreams,” Smith said.
And his grandmother taught him the importance of community, telling the story of how she once bathed a homeless woman in the family’s only tub.
“Every single moment in your life has to be in service to somebody else,” he said. “Even when we didn’t have nothing, she was giving it away.”
Smith graduated from Overbrook High School in 1986. Principal Julian Graham said it was a big day for the school community.
“This is a big deal, because guess what?” he said. “The future can see the greatness that comes through Overbrook High School.”