Llanview

Llanview, Pennsylvania
One Life to Live location
Creator Agnes Nixon
Genre Soap opera
Type City

Llanview, Pennsylvania is the fictional setting for the long-running American soap opera One Life to Live. The city exists in the same fictional universe as cities from other existing or defunct ABC daytime dramas, including Pine Valley from All My Children, Port Charles from General Hospital, and Corinth from Loving.

Contents

Overview

The community is supposedly a suburb of Philadelphia, modeled after the actual Chestnut Hill section of the city, though the name Llanview suggests an inspiration closer to the Welsh settlements of Upper Merion Township and Lower Merion Township north west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The name Llanview is a conjunction of Welsh llan (Church parish enclosure) with English -view, for a meaning of Parish-view or View of the Church Parish. Other in-universe locations, such as the Lord estate of Llanfair (-fair is a Welsh soft mutation of Mair for the name Mary, with Llanfair meaning [St.] Mary's Church), suggest a Welsh historical element. It has yet to be revealed if Llanview the town overlooked Llanfair the estate. It is said to be the county seat of Llantano County and located on the Llantano River, across from All My Children's Pine Valley. In the fictional universe, the mayor of the town was Llanview physician Dorian Lord. Dorian later resigned her position to take over a Senate seat in Washington, D.C. after the then-current senator was caught in a sex scandal. As a result, Kathleen Finn became the town's current mayor.

Llanview is the home of Llanview University and conglomerate Buchanan Enterprises. The local newspaper is The Banner, run by newspaper tycoon Victoria Lord. The Banner's rival publication is The Sun, which is run by Viki's half-brother Todd Manning. Llanview Hospital is the local medical center, and Angel Square is a central area located in East Llanview.

Bo Buchanan is appointed Llanview Police Commissioner in 1995; his nemesis corrupt Mayor Stanley Lowell, replaces Bo in 2010. Bo is reinstated, but in 2010 Dorian Lord is blackmailed into replacing Bo with Lowell himself. Bo's wife Nora Hanen is District Attorney. Former Llanview high school teacher Marcie McBain is the best-selling author of The Killing Club, a mystery novel.

On July 29, 2008, Bo Buchanan states that Llanview's area code is 267. The Llanview zip code is noted to be 19100 in the January 21, 2009 episode.[1]

History

Historical storylines

Annual events

2007 - Lindsay Rappaport - Arrested for Spencer Truman's murder
2005 - Evangeline Williamson - Kidnapped by the Killing Club Killer
2002 - Rae Cummings - Revealed as a fraud by Asa Buchanan
1998 - Nora Buchanan - Publicly revealed by Lindsay Rappaport to be carrying Sam Rappaport's baby
2009 - Dorian Lord publicly revealed the missing Buchanan heir, David Vickers and that she married him.
2008 - Allison Perkins kidnaps Jessica Buchanan holding her at gunpoint then falling over a high balcony, before revealing her big secret.

Disasters and major events

A serial killer claims three victims in New Jersey before arriving in Llanview. Trailing the killer, FBI Agent John McBain discovers the first of four Llanview murder victims, who include Gabrielle Medina. Some potential victims survive (including Jennifer Rappaport, Natalie and Jessica Buchanan, Sarah Roberts, Rae Cummings and Eve McBain) before the killer is revealed to be Dr. Stephen Haver.
Paul Cramer sets off a major chain of events between Llanview and Pine Valley by helping his sister Kelly Cramer obtain a baby after she miscarries and attempts to hide the truth from her husband Kevin Buchanan. While Babe Carey and Bianca Montgomery are simultaneously in labor, Paul fakes a helicopter crash and switches the babies around, giving Babe's child to Kelly and Bianca's child to Babe. The truth about the babies' identities is ultimately revealed in the resulting three-way custody battle. Paul is eventually murdered, and the backlash is as equally explosive as the Baby Switch itself.
A serial killer, re-enacting the events in Marcie Walsh's new novel, kills or kidnaps those close to her; the killer is later revealed to be someone from her past who holds a grudge against her; her former high school classmate and current publisher, Hayes Barber.
A terrible storm hits Llanview on the day of Marcie Walsh and Michael McBain's wedding day. St. James' rectory collapses, resulting in life-threatening injuries to Kelly Cramer and the death of Duke Buchanan. The adoptive parents of Tommy McBain are also killed, and Evangeline Williamson is temporarily rendered blind from flying broken glass.
A white supremacist group burns down buildings in Llanview, targeting people of different ethnicities and religions. The attacks escalate as potential victims survive and the authorities close in on the perpetrators, and several non-targeted people are injured or killed as collateral damage. Victims include African-Americans Vincent Jones and sisters Layla and Evangeline Williamson, Jewish Nora Hanen and her son Matthew Buchanan, Hispanic relatives Antonio and Cristian Vega and Adriana Cramer, and Syrian Talia Sahid.[2]
At B.E.'s annual shareholders' meeting in the Palace Hotel, Dorian Lord announces her hostile takeover after revealing that Jared Banks is in fact not Asa Buchanan's son. Afterward, Jared and Nash Brennan fight, and Nash falls through a skylight to his death.
The storyline begins when Starr Manning finds herself pregnant with Cole Thornhart's baby. Jessica Brennan also became pregnant with the late Nash Brennan's baby. On November 6, Starr's water breaks and goes into labor. Meanwhile, Tess, Jessica's alter ego, plots revenge against her sister and boyfriend, Natalie Buchanan and Jared Banks. After planting a bomb on Natalie and Jared, Tess goes into premature labor. Starr gives birth to a girl, who she names Hope with the help of the baby's adoptive mother, Marcie McBain and Starr's mother, Blair Manning. With the help of Tess's mother,Viki's, alter ego, Niki (which was only Tess's imagination), Tess gave birth to a stillborn baby girl, who she named Chloe. Chloe's death resulted in a second alter ego, Bess. Bess goes to the hospital and switches her dead baby with Starr's baby. Chloe died of Rh disease. Starr and Cole were tested and came out both Rh negative. Throughout the storyline, the Manning family mourned Hope's death. In June 2009, Jessica admitted to causing the whole switch and gave Starr and Cole back their baby. As of today, Jessica is mourning Chloe's death and Starr is raising Hope with the help of Cole and the rest of her family.
A series of stabbings in 2009 is suspected to be the work of the same killer. The victims are each left with a letter from the alphabet, seemingly the killer's calling card: Lee Halpern (K), Wes Granger (A), and Blair Cramer (D), who survives. With these clues seemingly pointing to the 1993 gang rape of Marty Saybrooke at the KAD fraternity house at Llanview University, Todd — who has a grudge against each of the victims — is the initial suspect. Suspicion then falls upon Zach Rosen, another of Marty's rapists, but the killer appears to still be at large when Talia Sahid is murdered while Zach is in custody. The killer is ultimately revealed to be Powell Lord III, Todd's cousin and yet another of Marty's rapists.[4] Assisted by Rebecca Lewis, Powell's one-time fiancée and Todd's former love, Powell kidnaps Todd, Marty, and Todd's ex-wives Blair and Téa Delgado to give Marty closure by punishing Todd.[4]
A blizzard rolls into Llanview and evil cult leader, Mitch Laurence, who previously faked his death, kidnaps his daughter Jessica Buchanan and brings her to Llantano Mountain, with intention to reclaim his cult legacy through his son Rex Balsom's unborn child. While many people try to save her, a huge car crash happens injuring many people. Mitch kidnaps the carrier of Rex's baby Stacy Morasco, whose actual father is actually Oliver Fish. When Mitch finds out that Oliver is the father, he abandons Stacy in a blizzard on top of Llantano mountain. Jessica's boyfriend Brody Lovett comes to save her, but Mitch had already put Jessica in his plan, giving her selective amnesia so she can't remember anything past her high school years. Dorian Lord and Charlie Banks makes an appearance on Llantano Mountain where Charlie was planning to kill Mitch, but accidentally shoots Mitch's nurse, Nurse Charles, and Jessica. The police come and stop everything, arresting Mitch and bringing Jessica to the hospital. Meanwhile, Stacy's sister Gigi Morasco finds her and helps her give birth to Sierra Rose, but while on the way to the hospital, Stacy falls in the ice and drowns.
A man with Todd Manning's old face and his old scar arrives in Llanview after escaping from being held captive in a secret compound in Louisiana for eight years. When he first sees another person who claims he's Todd, he is shocked and confused about his and the other person's identity. He then spies on his family members and remembers them with photographic memories. He also befriends Sam Manning, who says his father is Todd. The man with Todd's old face later confronts the man claiming to be Todd at his office at the headquarters of The Sun newspaper. Todd denies that he is an imposter, and then the man with a scar is later disposed by rogue CIA agent Baker by being shot, and thrown into the Llantano river and left for dead. A homeless man named Louie later rescues him, and tells him to call his friend police detective John McBain. The man with a scar then meets John at the docks, and tells him he thinks he's the real Todd. John then takes him to his home at The Angel Square Hotel to hide out from the bad guys. Todd then sneaks out to attend "The Vicker Man" movie premiere (A biopic starring con artist turned actor David Vickers, which is also produced by his wife Dorian Lord and directed by Starr Manning's friend Markko Rivera) to finally reveal himself to his family, where they are shocked to discover the man with Todd's old face. At first his family is confused with who is the real Todd, but then a DNA test is performed, and it reveals they have the same DNA! It is also later revealed that Todd's mother Irene Manning is still alive and runs the rogue CIA operation that's been keeping the man with a scar captive at the secret compound! Irene then arrives in Llanview herself to reveal herself to her old friend Viki Lord and her family. Irene then explains that she had the real Todd kidnapped in 2003 after he was abducted by evil cult leader Mitch Laurence, and put her in her compound, and switched him with his long lost twin brother Victor Lord Jr., who she raised by herself at the compound to program him with Todd's old memories. She then cut a scar on Victor Jr.'s face and also had plastic surgery done to his face to resemble Mitch's brother Walker Laurence, before she released him to go to Llanview claiming to be Todd. Victor Jr. is shocked to find out he's not the real Todd, but his wife (and Todd's ex-wife) Tea Delgado helps him to accept his newfound identity. Victor Jr. is then tragically shot and killed by an unknown assailant on August 31, 2011. After other suspects like Rex Balsom and Shane Morasco were dismissed, Todd found out in the fall of 2011 that he murdered his own brother Victor Jr. when he has a vision of his dead mother Irene telling him he killed his own brother. Todd would later set up Tomas Delgado (who was dating Todd's ex-wife Blair Cramer at the time) as the guilt culprit by having him kidnapped and held hostage in an undisclosed location to make it look like he was arrested in prison.

Society

See also: List of One Life to Live characters and One Life to Live minor families
Mayor District Attorney Assistant District Attorney
  • Kathleen Finn (September 2011 - Present)
  • Dorian Lord (November 2009 - August 2011)
  • Stanley Lowell (2005–2009)
  • Alex Olanov (1995–1996)
  • Liz McNamara (1990–1995)
  • Victoria Lord (1990)
Police Commissioner Llanview Hospital Chief of Staff
  • Bo Buchanan (1995–2006; 2006 - February 2008; August 2008-January 2010; February 2010 – November 2011)
  • Stanley Lowell (January 2010 – February 2010)
  • John McBain (August 2008)
  • Lee Ramsey (February 2008 - June 2008)
  • Harding (1990)

Residences

Mansions
  • Buchanan Mansion - Home of Asa Buchanan and his relatives from 1981 until his death in 2007; subsequently bequeathed to Nora Hanen. Clint Buchanan gains control of the estate as part of his divorce settlement to Nora Hanen on January 12, 2010. On May 25th, 2011 the mansion deed was given to Cutter Wentworth in an extortion deal in order to have Tess Wentworth committed to St. Anne's Hospital. However, on June 28, 2011, it was revealed that Clint was able to take back the deed to the mansion from Cutter due to a deal he made with Rex Balsom in order to get Gigi Morasco's heart. On July 8, 2011, Rex revealed to Roxy that he fired the mansion's longtime butler Nigel Bartholomew-Smythe. On October 20, 2011, Rex gives back the entire Buchanan fortune to Clint including the mansion, but Clint still allowed Rex and Shane to still live in the mansion while he pays for the housing bills while he's under house arrest for commiting recent crimes. Rex Balsom, Gigi Morasco, and Shane Morasco both currently reside here.
  • Llanfair Carriage House (1177A Regency Drive)[6] - Cottage on the Llanfair estate, home to various relatives and friends of Viki's over the years; Viki's friend Gigi Morasco lived here with her family Rex Balsom and Shane Morasco.
  • Lion's Heart - Victor Lord's alternate mansion from 1976 to 2003, bought by Tico Santi in 2004, and he resided there until his death that same year.
Lodge/Cabin
Hotels
  • Angel Square Hotel (17 Esperanza Street) - Hotel formerly owned by Max Holden, acquired by Roxanne Balsom in their 2003 divorce.
  • Palace Hotel- formerly known as Buchanan Palace, Buchanan Towers and Holden Towers. Currently owned and run by Renee Divine Buchanan.
  • Minute Man Motel -
Apartments
Penthouses and lofts
Houses
Other

Places of interest

Businesses

Stores

Media

Restaurants and eateries

Entertainment and culture

Volunteer foundations and community centers

Medical

Religious

Law and correctional

Museums and galleries

Amenities

Education

Places to stay

Other locations

Relevant locations outside of Llanview

Tri-State Area

  • Drs. Colin MacIver and Melanie MacIver were introduced as doctors at the Cherryvale Hospital.
  • Talia Sahid was briefly transferred to the police department before transferring back to Llanview in place of Oliver Fish.
  • While trying to figure out why there were two Todd Mannings, Jack Manning suggests that one might be a clone, referring to a Guiding Light storyline from 1998; "It happened to some lady in Springfield once!"

Other places

  • Adriana Cramer left Llanview to work in Paris, France.
  • Layla Williamson currently resides here after accepting a job under a top fashion designer. She plans to commute back to Llanview periodically to see her former fiance Cristian Vega
  • Tomas Delgado, an American painter, was contacted by Blair Cramer when she received a mystery painting from her late husband Elijah Clarke. Tomas left Paris in 2011 to be with his sister Tea Delgado in Llanview.
  • Victoria Lord left Llanview in 2007 and end up working as a waitress at the Bonjour Cafe to forget the troubles of her life and rediscover herself.
  • Asa Buchanan's ranch is located here where his last will and testament was read. It is now owned by Asa's good friend Chuck Wilson III.
  • Charlie Banks left Llanview in 2011 after his divorce from Victoria Lord to rebuild the Bonjour Cafe.
  • Rex and his aunt Corinne Balsom lived here during his teenage years after Roxy left him here; Corinne continues to reside here.
  • Gigi and Stacy Morasco grew up here; Gigi eventually left for Paris, Texas while pregnant with Shane while Stacy left for Las Vegas, Nevada after their parents died.
  • Brody Lovett lived here with his family before being deployed for the Iraq war; his sister Nadine continues to live in the family house after their mother died.
  • Melinda Cramer was hospitalized at Compton Clinic periodically. She was remitted and resided at the clinic from late 1997 till her death in March 2010 from an unexpected "heart attack". It was later revealed, she had been murdered by Elijah Clarke.
  • Markko Rivera is currently living in Los Angeles attending UCLA and directing David Vickers new movie Vickerman.
  • Langston Wilde is currently living here as the screen writer for Vickerman.
  • Tea Delgado decided to reside here in a hospice in St Kitts during her final days of being diagnosed with a fake inoperable brain tumor. Dr. Greg Evans was blackmailed into faking her death and has been taking care of her during this time.
  • On August 18th, 2010 David Vickers was placed in a Morocco prison after being kidnapped by Clint Buchanan the day David and Dorian were to be married.
  • On August 19, 2011, Rex Balsom and Natalie Buchanan both go to investigate a strip club called "The Spotted Pony", based on a clue they got from both psychic Madame Delphina and David Vickers concerning the whereabouts of Gigi Morasco based on Rex's visions of his dead fiance. Rex also discovers that Kimberly Andrews, the best friend of Gigi's deceased sister Stacy Morasco, is stripping there using the stage name of his late wife "Gigi". "The Spotted Pony" is also connected to a dark and mysterious secret that both Kim and her con artist brother and former scamming partner Cutter Wentworth are hiding from their friends and loved ones. On October 14, 2011, it was revealed that the secret was that Cutter killed a rich man named Mr. Berger by putting too much "mickey" into his drink when Cutter enlisted Kim to seduce Mr. Berger for his money by working as a stripper at the club several years ago. The incident was witnessed by Kim's former french boarding school rommate Rama Patel, who took a picture of Cutter and the dead guy with her cell phone, and wanted to use that picture to blackmail Cutter ever since. Rama also wanted to get her money back from Kim that she stole from her to pay for her plastic surgery to improve her looks. Kim is also keeping her friend Stacy Morasco in a local hospital in this town, which was later revealed that she had plastic surgery in South America to look like her late sister Gigi so that she could take over her life after she survived drowning in that frozen lake on Llantano Mountain outside Viki's cabin, and ended up in a coma when she decided to track down her sister in Llanview, and ended up trapped in the basement of a rental house with Gigi and were both poisoned by leaking carbon monoxide that also killed her sister. In November 2011, it was later revealed that Stacy was really her sister Gigi, and that Stacy was the one that died in that basement.

References

  1. ^ a b In the January 21, 2009 episode, Dr. Joplin's address at Llanview Hospital is noted to be 1421 Plumtree Road, Llanview, Pennsylvania 19100.
  2. ^ Later in July 2008 it is established that Talia is the daughter of Carlo Hesser and had been adopted by her Syrian stepfather.
  3. ^ One Life to Live recap (1/30/09) - Soaps.com
  4. ^ a b c One Life to Live recap (5/14/09) - Soaps.com
  5. ^ Mail addressed to Blair Cramer in the 8 April 2009 episode entitled "Teach Your Children Well" showed the address of La Boulaie as 56 Lincoln St.
  6. ^ The 11 February 2009 episode, "Teenage Wasteland", showed this address on mail for Gigi Morasco.
  7. ^ The 19 October 2010 episode showed this address on the apartment door.
  8. ^ The 22 July 2009 episode, "Who Sleeps With The Fishes", showed this address on the apartment door.
  9. ^ The 22 February 2010 episode showed this address on the apartment door, while 28 October 2009 episode, "For Whom The Bellman Tells", showed Apartment #17.
  10. ^ listed as 320 Corinth Street on his license to practice law during the August 3, 2010 episode
  11. ^ The 24 February 2010 episode showed the room number on the apartment door
  12. ^ The 20 August 2009 episode showed this address on the apartment door
  13. ^ stated on January 27, 2010 episode
  14. ^ Dorian's role in the company was mentioned in the June 3, 2008 episode, during Dorian's takeover of BE.
  15. ^ Web page in the form of a search engine result and map shown in the 23 March 2011 episode entitled "MyFace Search: James Ford" also indicates the diner is between Washington Ave. at Madison Ave.
  16. ^ From Court Order shown during episode "One For My Baby, and One S'more For The Road", aired 24 November 2008. Note spelling on Court Order was St. Anne's.
  17. ^ From return address shown during episode "Skin and Bones", aired 9 November 2009. The name on the envelope was "Boutet Clinic".
  18. ^ From sign shown during episode "As Close As The Beat Of My Heart", aired 17 June 2009.
  19. ^ From John McBain's business card, shown during the episode aired 15 April 2010.
  20. ^ From filing jacket shown during episode "The Blair Snitch Project", aired 11 Aug 2009.
  21. ^ The 8 April 2009 episode, "Teach Your Children Well", showed this return address on mail addressed to Blair Cramer.
  22. ^ Signage featured in the September 24, 2008 episode.
  23. ^ Signage featured in the February 4, 2010 episode "All On A Wintry Night".

Further reading

Current
contract characters
Current
recurring characters
Notable former characters
Production crew
Former Executive Producers
Former Head Writers
Related topics
Historical storylines
U.S. daytime soap operas currently on the air
Fictional cities in U.S. soap operas