OLTL: Ina Hopkins' Boarding House

[Lust4Life76]

Hi there,

  With the sporadic uncovering's of Classic OLTL episodes from the late 70's and 80's, I am very intrigued with Llanview's local landlady Ina Hopkins and her haven for some of the show's beloved characters.

I know Ina lived/owned the property, but who else lived there?

I know Karen Wolek did, after she broke up with Larry given her secret life turning tricks...

Katrina Karr... Karen's hooker friend lived there, and was Ina's business partner in a local restaurant... 

Ed Hall, after his divorce from Carla...

Did Marco Dane when he masqueraded as his twin brother Mario?

Did Herb Callison when he separated from Dorian?

I think Faith Kipling, Johnny Drummond, and Cassie(almost?) As well as Melinda? and Becky Lee? 

How was Ina written out of the story? Did she move with Kat to be a live-in babysitter to Kat's daughter Mary?

I wish she, Ina, would have stayed in Llanview throughout the 80's and 90's... I liked the boarding house motif and the surrogate families it created...

Thanks,

Erik

[victoria foxton]

The boarding house was a great place. For wayward outsider characters. In the couple of random episodes. That feature the boarding house. I love the interaction between the characters. With a quirky Ina in a maternal role. I really like Karen and Ed's friendship. 

Edited October 16, 2021 by victoria foxton

[soapfave06]

I wasn't watching then but I love what I have seen of the boarding house and I think it fit with OLTL's theme and was a natural way to bring characters together. They should have done this again towards the end as the budget was slashed but soaps don't seem to know how to properly do this now. 

[slick jones]

Katherine Squire (See Soap Hoppers)  was Alice Lovelace, an early member of Ina's household.

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Stephen Schnetzer's Marcello Salta lived there, also, I believe, romancing housemate Katrina Karr (Nancy Snyder).

Karen and Marco

Jill Voight's Becky Lee lived there.   Mary Gordon Murray moved Becky into the "Carriage House"

 

 

Ed Hall befriended Karen there

 

and I think you're right about Herb during a Dorian breakup

(from the infamous elevator)

 

 

[soapfave06]

I have never heard of Alice Lovelace. 

When is that picture of Stephen and Nancy from? It would have been nice to see Katrina back down the line, or Jenny with Christina. 

[SFK]

Did Ina’s boarding house predate Myrtle’s in Pine Valley?

[Lust4Life76]

Ooh good question... possibly? Because if it housed Melinda and Becky Lee initially before Karen, Kat, Ed, etc., that was mid to start of the late 70's. 

It seems Cassie did live there, at the same time Herb did? And Gary Corelli lived there too (given an episode posted on YouTube in 1982)... 

[Paul Raven]

I believe Ina's boarding house appeared first in late 77 as the show prepared to move to an hour and new sets and characters were needed,

In addition to Alice Lovelace, Ina had a boyfriend Ethan Bottomley, who worked at the newspaper morgue.

So it seems they were going for a light comedy/oldies vibe at first with those characters.

Marco was living there and Becky Lee moved there so it was probably through Marco that we first saw Ina's?

Sally Gracie had been dropped by The Doctors after along run as Martha. Joseph Stuart was producing OLTL after exec producing The Doctors, so he may was familiar with her and might have got her the role.

It's funny to look back and see older characters being introduced. When was the last time a new over 50 character came onto a soap recently?