Johnny Grant- Dooley
“Metro Jacksonville Archive” has an article that is titled “Myrtle Avenue Warehouse District”. Well, today, I can confirm that is true. I saw the biggest warehouse of random “stuff” that I’ve ever seen! As they say, “There are no words”. And, “there are no words!”
Tim Gilmore wrote an article in December of 2025 titled “Step Inside the Underworld Catacombs of John Grant Dooley’s Old Brick Warehouse and Wonderland!” I read the article and made a visit to see it but found no success on the first try. There was a huge warehouse on the corner of Myrtle and 18th Street. It was beautifully painted and even had huge people-artwork on it. My understanding was that the warehouse was open on Tuesdays from 9-noon but I’ve found out since that’s not necessarily so.
The day I went (and begged my youngest daughter to go with me), the place was on lock down. ( Even the big 12 foot tall gate was locked!). I waited by the gate past 9 am just in case I got the time wrong but no one came. Disappointed, I wrote a note leaving my phone number and taped it to the keyless mechanical gate lock and we drove away.
Fast forward a few days and I got a call from “Johnny”, the owner himself that the warehouse would be open on the following Tuesday at 9 so again, I planned to go and again, begged the youngest to go with me.
When Tuesday came, I confirmed with the daughter and we met inside the open gate of this huge over 40,000 foot warehouse.
Before we entered, we actually met John Grant-Dooley. I’ll guess he’s in his late 70’s, quite friendly and passing the time outside of his warehouse as folks were coming in and out of the building.
It was a cool day in February. He was beginning a fire near the back entrance. Right away he was friendly and talkative. I introduced myself and said, “You must be Johnathan”. He said, “Johnny”. I corrected myself and said, “Yes, Johnny”. Then I told him I was the one who left a note on the mechanical lock box and I thanked him for calling me. He said he did not want me to miss the “opportunity to be overwhelmed.” He had told me to bring a flashlight which I did. And, overwhelmed is an understatement.
The outside is beautifully painted in a blue background with the Black community honored with faces and such. Upon coming in the back gate, there is a lot of “stuff” at the large warehouse-size open door. Upon entering, the stuff, and that means anything from dolls, to money bags, instruments, saddles, busts, wheels, screws, hammers, photographs, posters, artwork, postcards, books, lamps, buckets, signs, wheel barrows, etc. ( I could fill this page with descriptions). Anything you can imagine and more are lining the floor, on shelves, in cubbies and the like. In some areas, you skinny through a pathway only to have to exit a different way. It’s truly “something you’ll have to see to believe”.
The two of us went in and right away were as Johnny said “overwhelmed”. The building is a 40,000 square-foot brick building that will certainly take you back in time like to the Beatles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, kings and queens, forest animals Tiffany lamps, dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of horse saddles, dozens and dozens and dozens and dozens of movie posters. I could go on.
Over the years Johnny owned businesses such as the Five Points Theatre, Fans and Stoves and Ugly Junk. I’m not sure what he calls this business but when I asked how it all began he said he said that for many years he and his family decorated restaurants like chilli’s, Ruby Tuesdays and such. That’s when it all made sense.
Upon leaving, I talked with Johnny as he sat in front of the fire he made and the warehouse he built. He said he was the “White example of Sanford and Sons.” I liked that program. It overwhelmed me too.
See you tomorrow and maybe at the warehouse,
Sources: Metro Jacksonville, Tim Gilmore, Johnny Grant-Dooley, Vaughan Publishing, Nannette V. Ramey.
