Philadelphia already has more than 4,000 murals. On the 3800 block of North Fifth Street and Rising Sun Avenue in Hunting Park, the city has a new one, with Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny at its center.
Esperanza dedicated the mural, titled “Juntos Somos América / Together We Are America,” in a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 23. The mural anchors the organization’s push to revitalize the Fifth Street commercial corridor, support its longtime businesses, and give the stretch a name of its own: “La Cinco.”
“It symbolizes identity and belonging,” said Esperanza founder and CEO Rev. Luis Cortés Jr. “This is who we are. This is our home.”
Looking ahead, the hope is for the mural to become a place for gathering, storytelling and education, and that it join the city’s more than 4,000 murals as a symbol of the neighborhood’s strength, diversity and resilience.
A Journey Across Three Walls
The mural spans three walls and reads like a journey. It moves from sunrise to sunset, starting on the right in Puerto Rico and traveling toward Philadelphia, with different eras of Fifth Street history woven in along the way.
Above it all, “Bienvenido a La Cinco” stretches across the sky beside a green Philadelphia street sign, complete with the Liberty Bell, that reads “N La Cinco.”
Bad Bunny stands in front of a globe, dressed in white. In one hand he holds the Puerto Rican flag. In the other is a football that reads “Together We Are America,” the message he delivered during his Super Bowl LX halftime show.
At his feet, figures in straw hats raise the flags of Venezuela, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Honduras and more against the sea.
Around the corner, the story lands on Fifth Street.
Under a pink sunset, a band plays congas, guitar and trumpet in front of a row of Philadelphia rowhomes. Couples dance salsa, a DJ spins from crates painted with the flags of Puerto Rico, Jamaica and Panama, breakdancers spin on cardboard, and neighbors plant a tree. Puerto Rican flags fill the building’s windows above.
Cortés told the crowd that murals are far more than beautiful works of art on a wall. They hold what a community has lived through.
“Murals talk about history and memory. They preserve the stories of our ancestors, our migration, our struggles, our achievements, and everyday life,” he said.
For Cortés, the audience that matters most is the neighborhood’s youth.
“It’s important for our young people. They need to see their culture. They need to see their neighborhood. They need to see people who look like them represented with respect. Our story matters. We belong, and the future is ours,” he added.
Two Generations, One Wall
Rafael Álvarez Febo, Esperanza’s vice president of economic development and social impact, emceed the ceremony. He introduced artists Danny Torres and Vanessa Vega as representing two distinct generations.
Torres is a pioneer whose work has brought color, creativity and pride to Philadelphia’s Latino community for decades. Meanwhile, Vega represents a newer generation ready to build on the work of pioneers while also blazing a new path forward.
Vega said the project traces back to an exhibition on Puerto Rican culture she hosted during Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show.
Álvarez Febo came out to see it, and the two bonded over how much the performance had moved them both.
Working on the mural across generations wasn’t always easy, she said, but it was worth it.
“The older generation, they just had experience and wisdom. But I think something that the newer generation brings is, we always have new ideas … new ways to see things, new perceptions, and I don’t think that should ever be overlooked.”
Naming the Corridor
The mural is only the most visible piece of a bigger effort.
Álvarez Febo, who led the project, said the organization went to the city’s Commerce Department and made its case that the community deserved its own space.
“They believed in us,” he said.
The resulting grant, through the department’s storefront improvement program, paid to renovate facades along the corridor.
Among them is nearby Valdez Business Solutions, which has served the neighborhood for more than 30 years. Meanwhile Porky’s Point, across the intersection from the mural, has been there since 1974. Poja Warehouse, the building that hosts the mural, was also renovated.
For Álvarez Febo, the goal went beyond fresh paint.
“We want to name a space,” he said, “a space where we can talk about who we are.”
That space is La Cinco.
Pride As Action
The ceremony also carried a charge.
Invoking the pride many felt watching Bad Bunny on the Super Bowl stage, City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents the 7th District, declared, “Our culture cannot be erased. Our voices cannot be silent. Our beliefs will continue to stand strong.”
In continuation, she urged residents to fight for respect, resources and representation; to protect families, neighborhoods, small business owners, elders and children; and to show up at every election.
“Our pride must be more than a feeling. It must be an action,” she said.
Stop by Fifth Street and Rising Sun Avenue to see the mural for yourself. Start on the right and follow the journey from Puerto Rico to Philadelphia, then grab a bite at Porky’s Point and support the longtime businesses that make La Cinco what it is.
You can also learn more about Esperanza’s work to revitalize the corridor at https://www.esperanza.us/neighborhood-revitalization/
A project of Esperanza, funded by The Philadelphia Foundation.