"This city is just a fantastic place to shoot in," Stallone said at City Hall yesterday after meeting with Mayor Street. "And it is, I guess, the most blue-collar city. It's really salt of the earth. As much as I was born in New York, there's something about Philadelphia that just rings true."

Stallone, Street and Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Film Office, met to talk about locations for "Rocky Balboa" - the sixth film in the Rocky series - due to start filming in January. Part of that, Stallone said, will be a on-screen tour of Rocky's old haunts.

"He'll go back and revisit all the places that were very emotional - the pet shop, the streets, the church he got married in, the ice-skating rink - and how things have changed but he hasn't," Stallone said. "And then he realizes that he has to move on."

Also expected: Another run through the Italian Market on South 9th Street and a "little surprise" at the end on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

What are the chances for a "Rocky 7"?

"In 'Rocky 7,' I think he fights arthritis," Stallone said. "So this will be it."