NBC · 1990–1996West Philly → Bel-Air
Will Smith at the Emmys in September 1993, with the show on the air.
Hail the cabA kid from West Philadelphia gets sent across the country to live with rich relations, and NBC ran it for six seasons. The neighbourhood, the school and the street with his name on it are real. So is the house, though it isn’t in Bel-Air.
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air first aired on NBC on 10 September 1990 and ran for six seasons; the 30th-anniversary reunion was taped on 10 September 2020.
On 26 March 2025 the city renamed part of North 59th Street Will Smith Way; Mayor Cherelle Parker gave him the key to the city, and a basketball court was dedicated to him the same day.
West Philadelphia · North 59th Street
Will Smith grows up at 59th and Woodcrest in Wynnefield, West Philadelphia. Walk down 59th Street and you reach Overbrook High, where he went to school.
Two stickers. Put them on in the right order.
Smith went to Overbrook High School; in tenth grade his algebra teacher, Brenda Brown, started calling him “Prince”. He added “Fresh”, hip-hop slang of the day, and has said the name was coined in that building. Brown taught at Overbrook and Bodine High School for more than 30 years and retired in 2002.
A working public high school: look at the tower from 59th Street. There is no visitor entrance.
House party
Philly
1986
On the decks: Jeff Townes
On the mic: Will Smith
Drawn for this page
Center City · South Broad Street
Jeff Townes met Will Smith at a Philadelphia house party in 1986; the Alliance calls them the first rap group to make it big from Philadelphia. Their single “Parents Just Don’t Understand” won a Grammy, and “Summertime” won a second in 1991.
DJ Jazzy Jeff’s bronze plaque was unveiled on Broad Street, between Locust and Spruce, outside the DoubleTree Hotel, in November 2000.
Bronze plaques set in the Broad Street pavement. Look down outside the hotel.
Meter running · 3,871.1 km, stop to stop
The show’s whole story is one trip west. Ride it for real: nine stops from Will Smith’s corner to the house that played the mansion, and the meter counts the straight-line kilometres between them.
The cab is waiting on 59th Street. Hail it.
End of the ride
Every cab ride in this story ends at a white front door with columns. Ring it.
Nobody has answered yet.
For the 30th anniversary Will Smith offered five one-night Airbnb stays there in October 2020, at $30 a night, for Los Angeles County residents only. Guests had his wing of the house: his bedroom, a full bathroom, the pool, an outdoor lounge and the dining room.
Private home. A private home, and not in Bel-Air at all. It is named here, never pinned: please do not go looking for it.
Hollywood, then west along Sunset
Seasons two and three of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air were shot at Sunset Gower Studios. The corner of Sunset and Gower held Hollywood’s first studio, Nestor, in 1911; Columbia was here from 1925 until 1972.
A working studio lot behind its gates: seen from Sunset Boulevard and Gower Street only.
In December 2007 Will Smith pressed his hands and feet into the cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Jaden and Willow Smith and Tom Cruise were there to watch.
The forecourt opens onto the Hollywood Boulevard pavement: find the 2007 slab among the others.
Hollywood, Los Angeles
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Alphonzo Bell bought about 1,700 acres in 1922 and filed the first tract, of 128 lots, in 1923. The Bel-Air Association is at 100 Bel Air Road, on the corner of Bel Air Road and Sunset Boulevard. Sunset Boulevard is Bel-Air’s southern edge; many of its streets carry Italian names, such as Bellagio.
Peacock’s Bel-Air, which grew from Morgan Cooper’s viral 2019 short, is renewed for a fourth and final season.
Public roads: the entrances on Sunset Boulevard are seen from the pavement. The streets inside are homes.
The Hotel Bel-Air was built in 1927 as Alphonzo Bell’s estate-planning office. It opened as a hotel in 1946.
A working hotel in the canyon: the one way to spend a night inside Bel-Air.
701 Stone Canyon Road, Bel-Air
Alphonzo Bell’s 1927 estate office, a hotel since 1946, up Stone Canyon Road: the way to sleep inside the real Bel-Air.
Check roomsPress the button. Nobody is watching.
Alfonso Ribeiro · Carlton Banks
The script said only that Carlton dances. Ribeiro built the moves from Courteney Cox’s dancing in Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video and an Eddie Murphy routine, chose them because they were the corniest he could think of, and set them to Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual”. He says it was never meant to be a joke.
The script said “Carlton dances”; Ribeiro based the dance on Courteney Cox in Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” video and Eddie Murphy’s “White Man Dance”, and says it was never intended to be funny. It goes with Tom Jones’s “It’s Not Unusual”.
CBS News: How Alfonso Ribeiro came up with the Carlton dance (Andrea Park, 19 August 2015)
The cast, as themselves
Will Smith
Will
The kid from West Philadelphia who moves in with his aunt and uncle.
Alfonso Ribeiro
Carlton Banks
The cousin, and the dance.
Tatyana Ali
Ashley Banks
The youngest cousin.
Karyn Parsons
Hilary Banks
The eldest cousin.
Daphne Maxwell Reid
Aunt Viv, from 1993
She took over the part after the third season.
James Avery
Philip Banks, Uncle Phil
The judge at the head of the table. James Avery died in Glendale, California, on 31 December 2013, aged 68.
Janet Hubert
Aunt Viv, 1990–1993
The first Aunt Viv left after the third season. In the 2020 reunion she and Will Smith talked on camera for the first time in 27 years.
For the 30th anniversary the cast taped a reunion on 10 September 2020, the date of the first episode: Smith, Ribeiro, Ali, Parsons, both Aunt Vivs, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Joseph Marcell, with a tribute to James Avery.
The HBO Max reunion brought together Will Smith, Janet Hubert, Daphne Maxwell Reid, Karyn Parsons (Hilary), Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton), Tatyana Ali (Ashley), DJ Jazzy Jeff (Jazz) and Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey), with a tribute to James Avery; Hubert left after the third season and Daphne Maxwell Reid took the part in 1993.
The reunion was taped on 10 September 2020, 30 years after the premiere; James Avery died in 2013.
James Avery, Judge Philip Banks, died in Glendale, California, on 31 December 2013, aged 68.
The Philadelphia Inquirer: James Avery, 68, of ‘Fresh Prince’ fame (2 January 2014)
Meter off
7 places you can visit, in Philadelphia and Los Angeles. The Wynnefield corner and the house in Brentwood are private homes, named and never pinned. Overbrook High and Sunset Gower are seen from the street.
Pins mark public places; private homes are named but not pinned.
General reference · Restricted access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A working public high school: look at the tower from 59th Street. There is no visitor entrance.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. A city street: the signs are at 59th and Lancaster, across from the school.
General reference · Public access · Coordinate precision: site · Not an exact scene or camera position; not a visitor route. Bronze plaques set in the Broad Street pavement. Look down outside the hotel.
North 59th Street at Lancaster Avenue, Overbrook
Smith went to Overbrook High School; in tenth grade his algebra teacher, Brenda Brown, started calling him “Prince”.
A working public high school: look at the tower from 59th Street. There is no visitor entrance.
The 2000 block of North 59th Street, at Lancaster Avenue
On 26 March 2025 the city renamed the 2000 block of North 59th Street Will Smith Way, across the street from Overbrook High School.
A city street: the signs are at 59th and Lancaster, across from the school.
South Broad Street between Locust and Spruce, outside the DoubleTree
DJ Jazzy Jeff’s bronze plaque was unveiled on Broad Street, between Locust and Spruce, outside the DoubleTree Hotel, in November 2000.
Bronze plaques set in the Broad Street pavement. Look down outside the hotel.
Stay
The 1927 office that became the Hotel Bel-Air.
701 Stone Canyon Road, Bel-Air
Alphonzo Bell’s 1927 estate office, a hotel since 1946, up Stone Canyon Road: the way to sleep inside the real Bel-Air.
Check roomsGo there
Live tour searches in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
Los Angeles
Live marketplace results for guided drives through Bel-Air, Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Check each itinerary for the stops it makes; private homes are seen only from the road.
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Live marketplace results for walks and tours that take in the Chinese Theatre forecourt, where Will Smith left his hand and footprints in 2007.
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Live marketplace results for Philadelphia walks and drives through the city’s music history and murals. Check each itinerary for West Philadelphia and Broad Street.
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Take it home
Will Smith’s book and the two albums that won DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince their Grammys.
Will Smith with Mark Manson
Smith’s memoir, from West Philadelphia onwards; Penguin, 2021.
Find the bookDJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince · Vinyl LP, 1988
The Jive double album with “Parents Just Don’t Understand”, the Grammy winner.
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Find a copyDJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince · CD, 1991
The 1991 album with “Summertime”, their second Grammy.
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Find a copyDates, prices, rooms and stock change: confirm with the provider before you travel or buy. A stay or tour is described as a filming location only where the card says so.
He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper: Jive, 1988, US double LP.
MusicBrainz: He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, Jive, 1988 (US double LP)
Homebase: Jive, released 9 July 1991, US CD.
“Parents Just Don’t Understand”, from He’s the DJ, I’m the Rapper, won a Grammy; “Summertime” won a second in 1991.
Philadelphia Music Alliance Walk of Fame: DJ Jazzy Jeff (inducted 2000)
Every place and moment behind this page, with sources.
9 of 9 places · 11 of 11 Moments
North 59th Street at Woodcrest Avenue, Wynnefield
Will Smith grows up at 59th and Woodcrest in Wynnefield, West Philadelphia.
North 59th Street at Lancaster Avenue, Overbrook
A tenth-grade algebra teacher at Overbrook calls Smith “Prince”; he adds “Fresh”.
The 2000 block of North 59th Street, at Lancaster Avenue
The city renames the 2000 block of North 59th Street after him, opposite his old school, and hands him a key to the city.
South Broad Street between Locust and Spruce, outside the DoubleTree
DJ Jazzy Jeff’s plaque joins the Philadelphia Music Walk of Fame outside the DoubleTree on Broad Street.
Brentwood, Los Angeles
The house from the show stands in Brentwood, not Bel-Air.
Will Smith lists his wing of the house on Airbnb for five one-night stays at $30 a night.
Bel Air Road at Sunset Boulevard, East Gate
Alphonzo Bell files the first Bel-Air tract, 128 lots off Sunset.
Peacock’s Bel-Air, which grew from Morgan Cooper’s viral 2019 short, is renewed for a fourth and final season.
701 Stone Canyon Road, Bel-Air
Alphonzo Bell’s estate-planning office of 1927 opens as the Hotel Bel-Air.
Sunset Boulevard at Gower Street, Hollywood
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is shot at Sunset Gower Studios for its second and third seasons.
6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood
Will Smith presses his hands and feet into the forecourt at the Chinese Theatre.
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