General Hospital (1963-)

 

The General Hospital in Port Charles, NY was the setting for this daytime serial, aptly named General Hospital.  After a while, storylines starting to branch out from the hospital and focus on residents of the town, including the Quartermaine, Cassadine and Spencer familes.  The marriage of Luke and Laura Spencer is the most watched event in daytime history, with 30 million viewers.  General Hospital holds the record as the longest-running American soap opera in production as well as the receiving the most Emmy wins for Outstanding Daytime Drama Series, a whopping 14.  It spun-off the soap opera Port Charles, which debuted in 1997.

Location: General Hospital

Address: 1200 N State Street, Los Angeles, CA

LAC USC Medical Center

Location Visited: August 2025

Locations Master List

The Bold And The Beautiful (1987-)

 

Forrester Creations has taken the fashion scene by...Storm ;).  Love, happiness and betrayal is abound in the City of Angels with the wealthy Forresters and the middle-class Logans.  Spectra Fashions soon comes on the scene to be a main rival for Forrester Creations.

The Bold and the Beautiful is third soap opera created by William J. Bell and was a replacement for the serial Capitol.  It was also a sister show to The Young and the Restless.  My mom watched the NBC soaps so The Bold and the Beautiful was not on my radar until 1999, when I had internship on the show.  At the time, the big story was the Rick/Amber/Kimberly triangle.  My very first extra gig was on the show as part of my internship.  I was a guest at a 70s disco party at Insomnia.  The Bold and the Beautiful holds the distinction of being the most watched soap opera in the world, airing in more than 100 countries.

Location: Insomnia Cafe

Address: 7286 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA

Insomnia Cafe was a real coffee shop just down the street from CBS Television City, where The Bold and the Beautiful taped.  It closed a few years ago...

Location Visited: August 2025

Locations Master List

Days Of Our Lives (1965-)

 

The residents of Salem, Illinois have endured love, mystery and murder for sixty years.  Initially storylines focused on Tom and Alice Horton and their five children.  Throughout the years, other families were introduced, most notably the working-class Bradys and the evil Dimeras. The 1970s saw the budding romances of Doug and Julie and Mickey and Maggie as well as the introduction to Marlena Evans, who would become a pivotal character to this day.  The 1980s saw the emergence of supercouples Bo & Hope, Kimberly & Shane and Kayla & Patch as well as international adventures and mystery. The 1990s introduced more outrageous storylines including Carly being buried alive and Marlena being possessed by the devil.  Love, mayhem and people coming back from the dead continue to like sands through the hourglass.

Days of Our Lives was the soap opera I grew up with as my mom was a loyal viewer since it's debut.  The earliest storyline I remember is The Salem Strangler in 1982, which may be responsible for my love of horror movies.  I would watch sporadically over the summer and Christmas breaks and became a daily viewer in 1995, just as Sami crashed Carrie and Austin's wedding.  That storyline and the Marlena/John/Kristen triangle kept me hooked for the next few years.  I still watch the show to this day, though there haven't been many storylines since the James E. Reilly era that have kept my interest.

Location: Hope & Larry's Church

Address: 1100 Avenue 64, Pasadena, CA

Church Of The Angels

This church was also seen in Heathers (1989) and Melrose Place (1992-1999)

Location Visited: June 2024

Locations Master List