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General Hospital
Fan Descriptions and Photos!
The GH and PC Fanclub weekend Friday, July 27, 2001 by
Suzanne Lanoue
The First days
My husband and I arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 25th. We'd
had a long flight so we didn't stay up long once we got there. We stayed
at the Days Inn, which is only half a block from the Sportsman's Lodge but a lot
cheaper. The rooms are not as nice, of course. Thursday we met with
some friends to go to lunch at Jerry's Deli and to go to the Warner Brothers'
studio tour. Jerry's was okay; my stomach was kind of upset so I didn't
eat much. We had time to kill so first we went to NBC Studios to look at
their gift shop. I was surprised to find that outside was the set for the
Salem Place mall,  used all the time on Days of Our Lives! I took many
pictures and bought stuff in the gift shop. I was disappointed that there
wasn't more Days and Passions items available. It seemed to concentrate on
Tonight Show memorabilia. I hate when people have money to spend but there
is nothing to spend it on! Plus the items were very expensive.
Warner Brothers is a good tour if you like TV stuff and want to see
behind-the-scenes things and possibly run into some celebrities. Ours was
a little long (over 2 hours) and some people were bored because they didn't
watch many of the TV shows being discussed or because they had been on other
studio tours. I enjoyed it because I do watch so much TV. They don't
let you in the drama sets normally so we couldn't see the sets for West Wing or
ER. We did get to see the outside part of ER  where they have the
basketball hoop , the newspaper stand, and the ambulances, and one section where
they run in to the ER during part of the filming, so that was pretty cool.
We got to see the sets of The Drew Carey Show and Friends because they weren't
filming yet (but they wouldn't let us take any pictures). Drew Carey looked just like it does on TV, pretty much.
The Friends set was in disarray because it wasn't filming, so that one was a
little harder to recognize. We did see some people playing with Joey and
Chandler's Foosball table! They film The Gilmore Girls there on a massive
outdoor set so we saw many of the places seen on that show. We also got to
see them film one scene where the mother and daughter walk across the street and
into a diner. Unfortunately, none of us actually watch that show so it was
not as thrilling as it could have been. But it was still kinda neat to
watch. It's amazing how they have 30 people all working to concentrate on
two people and shoot a five second scene. I wish I had pictures to show
you but they wouldn't let us take pictures there, either. Now I
have to start watching this show so I can see this scene! I did buy some
stuff at the gift shop there, too.
We took a nap after that and then met my friends Lynn, Stacey and Joan
again. We walked a long way down Ventura Blvd. to find this good Chinese
restaurant, Chin Chin's. Halfway back, my husband and I stopped at this
karoake bar. Turns out it's a drag queen bar as well! But I made him
go in anyway :) It was actually a lot of fun. There weren't a lot of
people there so it wasn't noisy or crowded. The guy hosting the karaoke
was very funny and entertaining. And they liked my song. We only
stayed for one and left because he didn't want to make a long night of it.
We back to the hotel and met with the others again, who were having drinks with
Lisa, who does John J. York's official page. She is really a sweet person.
The fun soap stuff started on Friday. I stayed up too late Thurs. night
working on the page so I didn't drag myself out of bed until 9:30. We went
to the Sportsman's Lodge to meet my friends by the pool and then I went to the
Unique Soap Boutique to buy stuff. This is two rooms that they get where they
sell soap stuff like pictures, t-shirts, buttons, magnets, keychains, etc.
Mostly pictures. I got a lot of stuff there for both me and some other
friends who couldn't attend. It wasn't just GH/PC but also Y&R, Days,
AW, etc. This year the GH fan club also had a room where they were selling
stuff. We went to lunch at Twain's, a coffee shop next door. We had
two tables because our group had grown to 8 people. I met some people who
had been on Stacey's GH email list, so that was fun. Then we noticed that
at the table right behind us was Charles Keating (ex-Carl, AW)! He looked
great. He was also studying a Port Charles script so I guess he did sign a
contract with the show. We decided not to bother him because we figured he
must be there to go to the PC party later that night. Then later we
regretted that because he didn't show up. :(
After lunch there were some actors by the pool signing autographs and letting
us take pictures of/with them, including Real Andrews (Taggert),  Brad Maule
(Tony) and Marshall Hilliard who used to be on GL. They were all very
nice. Brad is always really funny. He joked that he would like to
sell T-shirts that say "I got Lucky at the GH Weekend" They
auctioned off a painting he did of his backyard pool. This was all free.
I barely had time to get back to the room to get dressed before the first
scheduled event, Coltin Scott's dinner.  He plays Nikolas on GH. This
was his first event and I have to say it ran very smoothly. I don't think
they should have made it a dinner, though. It's too difficult to
coordinate all that with watching the actors, and people on one side of the
table have to turn around to see the front of the room, etc. And most of
us were going to the PC Party which also served dinner. I think for the
smaller events, no food or just snacks would be better. The food was good,
though. Coltin Scott seems very nice and genuine. I felt kind of bad
for him because I don't think he's as popular as many of the other young actors
on the show (or maybe it's because he was auctioning off his golf shoes, LOL). I think a lot of people came to his event not to see him, but
to see the other others. This included Chad Brannon (Zander), Amber
Tamblyn (ex-Emily), Marisa Ramirez (Gia) and Jacob Young (Lucky). I was
very disappointed that Stephen Nichols didn't show up because he was the main
reason I bought that ticket. He was listed as a guest on Coltin's web site but
apparently there was some miscommunication. But I enjoyed seeing the others. They
were all very funny and entertaining. They had an auction which was kind
of boring but the proceeds went to a cancer charity. Coltin's father died
of cancer last year so he is very into this charity. His girlfriend, mom,
and stepdad were there and also Marisa's grandparents were there. We had a
very close table and we were right behind them, so I got some great pictures, I
think. Coltin and Jacob talked about their music a lot. Coltin
is working on an album. Jacob had one just come out. Chad is going
to be appearing in 1776 (the musical play). Amber did a pilot for the WB
that just got picked up and will probably air next summer, she said. They
had a question and answer period. People asked about Nikolas and Gia
getting back together, and about how they felt that Amber didn't have final
scenes with some of the actors who played her friends, among other
things. Parts of the auction were fun; it just went on a little
long. I even bid on something, can't remember what, but I got outbid
quickly. I don't know where some of these fans get all this money to
waste! The best items were the set tours and the items autographed by many
cast members, such as scripts and t-shirts.  It got fun when both Chad and
Coltin took off their shirts briefly so they could put on some of the
autographed items. One lucky fan got to take off Chad's shirt after she
bid on it :) Also another fan wanted to take a picture of Amber with two
of the actors (I think Chad and Coltin), but with their back so the
audience. So Amber grabbed both of their butts for the picture, LOL
All of the actors left except for Coltin, before the autograph signing could
take place, so that was disappointing. I like to get as many of the actors
as I can at these smaller events so that when the big event happens, I don't
have to stand in more lines. I briefly considered trying to go to Amber's
breakfast on Saturday, if I could get tickets, because it was rumored that
Kimberly McCullough (ex-Robin) would be there. But then when I figured out
that it was at 7:30 am, I decided against it.
The next event was the PC Party. Again we got great seats close to the
stage (thank you, Stacey!). Last time I went, they had this event in a
different room. It was a larger room but several pillars were in the way
and we weren't very close to the area where the stars were. This year it
was set up differently. They didn't make the stars eat dinner in front of us,
for one thing, so that prevented people from running up and bothering them while
they were eating, and it saved time for the whole event. The food was
pretty good that I recall. Most of the actors from PC were there, but not
Michael Easton (Michael/Caleb) or Nolan North (Chris). The actors seemed
very happy, for the most part, about the show and their roles in it. There
was very little complaining. There were a lot of vampire jokes, of
course.  The actors who play
Karen, Jamal, and Alison were hosting the
show. They gave out awards and asked questions that fans had sent
in. They were pretty fun. Brian Presley (Jack) was very funny and
cracked jokes a lot, mostly involving hitting on Julie Pinson (Eve). The
actress who plays Mary Scanlon made jokes about his hair. It was just very
fun and upbeat. I was happy to see many actors there that had not attended
or stayed long last time I was there, such as the ones who play Mary and
Lucy. The fun part of the event is always the autograph-signing and
photo-taking. I got almost everyone's autograph and picture. They
were all very nice and friendly. I think they are all just really happy
about where the show is right now and hoping it doesn't get canceled. Even
the big stars like Lynn Herring were just super-nice and chatted with anyone in
their line who wanted to chat, and joked around a lot. The lines were long
but not unbearable. Some of them could have been a little more organized,
though. Not to single anyone out, but I particularly enjoyed meeting Lynn
Herring, Thorsten Kaye, Brian Presley, Kiko Ellsworth, and the girl who plays
Alison. I thought Jon Lindstrom would be at the GH event (he was last
time!) so I didn't get in his line, just took a few pictures. Stupid
me. He's always very nice. I  didn't get in Julie Pinson's line
because it was just too long and I got her last time. Kin Shriner and
Carly Schroeder left a bit early but most of them stayed for a long time.
It was a great evening.
After the party, my husband and I went by the pool for a little bit to have a
drink. He doesn't come to the events, just hangs around with me when I'm not in
them, or drinks by the pool, or does sight-seeing. He had snuck in the PC
party at the very end to see if I was done. He bought drinks at the bar
and enjoyed people-watching. Anyway, we met some other fans by the pool
and chatted for a while about web pages and stuff. Then we went back to
our room, very tired. I was already sick of standing in line; little did I
know what was in store.
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