Page "Good Times" Paragraph 5

Florida and James Evans and their three children live in a rented project apartment, 17C, at 963 N. Gilbert Ave., in a housing project ( implicitly the infamous Cabrini – Green projects, shown in the opening and closing credits but never mentioned by name on the show ) in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago.

Florida and James ' children were James, Jr., also known as " J. J ." ( Jimmie Walker ), Thelma ( Bern Nadette Stanis ), and Michael ( Ralph Carter ).

When the series began, J. J. and Thelma were seventeen and sixteen years old, respectively, and Michael, called " the militant midget " by his father due to his passionate activism, was eleven years old.

Their exuberant neighbor, and Florida's best friend, was Willona Woods ( played by Ja ' net Dubois ), a recent divorcée who worked at a boutique.

Her adopted daughter, Millicent " Penny " Woods ( Janet Jackson ), a victim of child abuse, joined the show in season five.

Willona affectionately called Michael Evans " Gramps " because of his wisdom.

Their building superintendent was Nathan Bookman ( Johnny Brown ), to whom James, Willona and later J. J. referred as " Buffalo Butt ", or, even more derisively, " booger ".