On February 26, 2000, our third annual Support Our Sunset convention, luncheon and gathering was held in Studio City, California. Once again I was able to attend and would like to share my experience with you.
I left Jacksonville after work on Tuesday, February 22 and flew to Massachusetts to meet up with Michele (MPavbyrd) since we were attending the convention together. Wednesday the 23'rd we flew from there to Los Angeles, changing planes in Salt Lake City, Utah. When we arrived we rented a car (a Mercury Cougar for those of you who are interested!) and proceeded to the Carlton Motor Lodge in Studio City and got checked in. After grabbing some dinner we headed for the Sportsmen's Lodge where the convention was to be held. However, we did not see any of our fellow members so we returned to the Carlton for the night.
Thursday, February 24, was to be our day so we did not meet up with anyone right away. We drove first to Valencia to visit Westwood One (a radio network) then we drove to Tijuana, Mexico. We spent a couple of hours there, eating "real" Mexican food and playing with every dog we saw, then we returned to the Carlton to rest a bit before meeting with the others at the Muddy Moose at the Sportsmen's. As we walked in our attention was immediately turned to our sponsor, HllywdChk. We were talking about the planned trip to Seal Beach (where Sunset Beach is filmed) on Friday. I recognized SuBeRules and her husband from last year, who had a new baby! I also saw HanniseSB, Amanda2al, SuzieQSB, Maroux and a couple of others whose screen names I don't remember offhand. A few minutes later our very own SharonShev walked in and Michele and I set a new speed record rushing over to greet her and give her the biggest hug! It was Sharon's first time meeting Michele but of course I had met her last year. She looked very good and she told us she was feeling good too. A couple of times she walked out front for a smoke and Michele and I joined her, which gave us a chance to talk and for the two of them to get acquainted. Upon going back inside it was ultimately decided that we would all meet in front of the Sportsmen's Friday morning for the ride to Seal Beach.
Friday, February 25, we all met in front of the Sportsmen's. Four of us were driving so we arranged how we would ride and started on our way to Seal Beach. Michele and I were honored to have Sharon ride with us. We stopped at a service station just before Seal Beach since our youngest group member was in need of attention then proceeded to the beach. Of course the very first thing I recognized was the pier, and let me tell you it is quite a bit longer than it looks on the show! We all parked, then we met up at the front of the pier where we got together for group pictures. I say that in the plural because there were a total of nine cameras handed to me for picture taking. After I took the first picture a man with a blue and gold macaw walked up to us. For those of you who don't know, Michele is a bird lover so of course she had to check the bird out and make friends with her. The man happened to be a professional photographer so I got back in with the group and he took pictures with all the cameras that were being used. Yes, the bird was part of the picture! One shot was even taken with me holding the bird! Another shot was taken with Sharon holding her but not with my camera so I don't have that picture. After that we decided to walk down the beach. The first significant house we came to was Ben's house. Some pictures were taken of it, of course, then we walked on until we came to Surf Central. Oreo, the cat seen in the long shots of the house, was on the porch. He was very friendly and let us all pet him. Some pictures were taken of him as well. Then we turned the corner and walked back to the main street where we saw the lifeguard station, the police building, The Deep and The Java Web. Some of us tried to find Sunset Sisters but we couldn't. Then it was time for lunch so everyone met back up at the pier. At the end of the pier is a place called Ruby's and that's where we ate. Some of us surmised that Ruby's was the waffle shop but of course we didn't know for sure. After we ate some of us walked around the town again then we started to head back. Michele and I stayed at the beach for a while and walked back to Ben's house. We had a small vial of sand from the beach in Massachusetts and a shell. We placed them on the beach in front of Ben's house and we scooped up a vial of Pacific sand and picked up a shell. The next time we are together in Massachusetts we are going to put that sand on the Atlantic coast. Don't ask us why, it was just something we came up with! After we did that we walked around the beach some more, then we headed back to the Carlton to rest and prepare for the big gathering for Saturday.
Saturday, February 26, the big day! We started out by having breakfast, a light one, and then we went to a stationery shop and bought Sharon an autograph book. We then drove to the Sportsmen's and went inside to meet up with the others who were already upstairs waiting for the main event. There was supposed to be an auction of Sunset Beach items but something happened that we weren't able to have it. We then sat down (not at assigned tables this time!) and NIA ANN joined us on one side and Sharon on the other. I had seen NIA ANN last year and she had been at my table then also. Of course we remembered each other. HllywdChk then took center stage and told us her story about how SOS got started, then some cast members started to arrive. Some of them came in before and after others did. The total numbers of cast members present were Sarah Buxton (Annie), Krissy Carlson (Amy), Christi Ellen Harris (Emily), Michael Strickland (Brad), Lisa Guerrero Coles (Francesca), Dominique Jennings (Virginia), Christina Chambers (Maria), Chase Parker (Benjy), Shawn Batten (Sara Cummings), Tim Adams (Casey), Sherri Saum (Vanessa), J. Karen Thomas (Jada), and last but not least we had Clive Robertson (Ben/Derek). Clive was our "surprise" guest and needless to say all his female fans were happy to see him there. Of course Michele and I had to get several pictures of him (including some classic Derek poses) for Ssrod50 who had not been able to attend. I even tried to chase him down with my cellular phone to try to get him to call Ssrod50! Of course that didn't pan out but it was worth a try. We had a very nice luncheon featuring Italian food. After we all ate we had autograph signing. Some of the stars remembered me from last year, and there were some we were seeing for the first time including J. Karen Thomas who is an absolute sweetheart! During this time Michele and I saw Jan1859 and Meg7272. Then everyone started to take their leave, and Michele and I went to HllywdChk and thanked her for everything, gave her a big hug, then we met back up with Sharon and had our picture taken with her. After that we left and returned to the Carlton. Later we found out that Sharon and some of the others had met at the cafe at the Sportsmen's that evening for dinner. I wish we had known so we could have joined them!
Sunday, February 27, Michele and I went to Oxnard to visit an old friend of mine from more than 25 years ago. Then on Monday, February 28, we flew back to Massachusetts and on Tuesday, February 29 (Leap Year, Sadie Hawkins Day) I flew back home to Jacksonville.
I truly believe this had to have been our best SOS Convention ever! It was the third one that was held but I didn't get to go to the first one in 1998. I was happy to have been able to attend this one and the one we had last year. There is talk going around about some of the fans continuing to have occasional get-togethers and you can bet I will be joining as many of these as I can!
Love to all,
Robert
(RHWoodyA1)
UPDATE: On April 3, 2001, Michele passed away due to liver complications.
Let's look at the pictures!
