Florida and James Evans and their three children live at 921 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C, in a housing project in a poor, black neighborhood in inner-city Chicago . The project is unnamed on the show but is implicitly the infamous Cabrini–Green projects, shown in the opening and closing credits. Florida and James have three children: James Jr., also known as “J.J.”; Thelma; and Michael, whose passionate activism causes his father to call him “the militant midget.” When the series begins, J.J. is 17, Thelma is 16 and Michael is 11. Their exuberant neighbor and Florida’s best friend is Willona Woods, a recent divorcée who works at a boutique. Their building superintendent is Nathan Bookman (seasons 2-6), who James, Willona and later J.J. refer to as “Buffalo Butt” or, even more derisively, “Booger."