Chronology

The Blackthornes began as a web series in 2005, unfolding over six seasons and frequently reaching back into the past through flashbacks and revelations. Its successor, L.A. Connections, launched in 2025 and continues that tradition, weaving present-day drama with long-buried history.

This page presents a chronological account of events that occurred before 2005, reconstructed from those flashbacks and narrative references across both series. Together, they form the hidden backstory that shapes everything that follows.

October 1917

At the age of 18, Jonas Lamont moves to Hollywood and begins the Lamont 3 production company with his two brothers.

October 1926

After they try to swindle him out of his shares in the studio, and several attempts on his life, Jonas has his brothers imprisoned on trumped up charges aided by George Ranfit, the Hollywood mobster.

December 1946

At the age of 47, Jonas marries actress Midge Temple.

October 1947

Midge gives birth to Jonas’s daughter, Jacqueline.

September 1950

Construction on Jonas’s sprawling mansion in the Hollywood Hills is completed.

September 1952

Jonas’s wife, Midge, dies.

January 1963

Nathan Blackthorne moves to Hollywood from Windsor, Kansas, and lands the lead in a B movie called Night Screams for Double Strike Studios.

August 1964

At the age of 17, Jackie begins seeing Royce Jenner.  Jonas does not approve.

December 1964

Nathan lands a small role in the Lamont 3 film The Organization.

May 1965

Nathan is invited to a party at Jonas’s Hollywood mansion where he meets Jackie for the first time.

April 1966

Jonas offers Nathan the lead in his new sci-fi film The Benefactor under the condition that he steal Jackie from Royce.

March 1967

Jonas arranges for one of his leading stars, Lola, to change places with her twin sister, Lana in order to give Lola time to rest out of the limelight.

May 1967

Nathan and Jackie get married. 

November 1969

Nathan finds Jackie in bed with Royce.  She divorces him.

August 1971

Deirdre Donovan gives birth to Carlo Bravetti’s son, Mickey Donovan.

April 1972

Carlo Bravetti moves to Hollywood.

June 1972

Teddy Rydell dies of a heart attack.  When Lana won’t give up her sister’s life, Lola accidentally kills her.  Jonas and his fixer, Vaughan Novak, cover it up.

September 1976

Carlo Bravetti marries Destiny Vitale. 

April 1978

At the age of 17, Mary Ann McCormack moves to Hollywood and changes her name to Alex Reynolds at the urging of Suzanne Rogers, a woman she meets at an audition. 

October 1978

Alex meets Deacon Edgewater, President of Double Strike Studios, who sleeps with her in exchange for the lead in the B horror flick Bad Night

Carlo and Destiny Vitale welcome their son, Nicodemo.

December 1978

Alex completes principal photography for Midnight Show, another B horror flick, and learns she’s pregnant.  Deacon Edgewater is the father. 

February 1979

At 17, Georgie Blackthorne learns she is pregnant with Will Thomerson’s child shortly after he leaves Kansas for New York City.

March 1979

Maureen Adams sleeps with Will Thomerson while starring in his first Broadway production.

April 1979

Alex meets Nathan who introduces her to Jonas.  She hides her pregnancy in order to get a lucrative movie deal with Lamont 3.

Jonas learns about Alex’s pregnancy.  He sends her away to have the child.

June 1979

Suzanne Rogers begins portraying Fay Richards #2 on the soap opera The Young at Heart.

July 1979

Alex gives birth to a baby boy and Jonas arranges for him to be adopted by a wealthy family in New York.

August 1979

Alex and Nathan begin shooting Serendipity Express.  They make love.

November 1979

Georgie Blackthorne gives birth to a son, Ethan, and dies shortly after.

December 1979

Maureen Adams gives birth to Will Thomerson’s son and puts him up for adoption.  She then moves to Hollywood and changes her name to Marilee Wells.

Royce Jenner travels to Phoenix on business and meets Roz Taylor.  They begin an affair.

June 1980

Suzanne takes a hiatus from The Young at Heart to film the movie Hollow Tree with Jordan’s half-brother, Troy Beauchamp.  

October 1980

Actress Natalie Davidson goes overboard Jack Childers’ yacht and Jonas and Vaughn cover it up.

November 1980

James moves to Hollywood to shadow his uncle Nathan, and meets Alex.

December 1980

James and Alex kiss at Jonas’s New Year’s Eve party.  Nathan sees.

January 1981

Nathan, angry over seeing Alex and James kiss, goes to an industry party with Victor Distefano where they drug and sleep with Bianca Burnette, who falls into a coma and dies days later.  Jonas covers it up.

Roz Taylor gives birth to a daughter, Brooke, and passes her off as her husband Mick’s daughter.  She brings Brooke to Big Bear every summer to spend time with Royce.

September 1981

Jonas, 76 and Lola, 54 get married and have a reception at the mansion.  Lola and Alex are currently filming The Briar Patch. Lola is upset that her son, Jordan, 19, is infatuated with Alex.  She introduces Jordan to Suzanne, 18, who is currently filming Happy Neighbors with Nathan.  

Suzanne quits The Young at Heart and finishes filming Happy Neighbors.  She becomes unnerved by Nathan’s constant sexual advances.

February 1982

While on the set of Cannons Fire, Alex tells a heartbroken Nathan that she and James are in love and are getting married.

March 1982

Lamont 3 actress Cheri Montessori leaves a party at Jonas’s and is struck and killed by drunk driver Elena Hendricks.  Jonas covers it up.  Cheri’s adopted three- year old son (Marilee Wells’ son she gave up for adoption) is home alone and dies.

May 1982

James and Alex get married at Jonas’s estate.  Nathan is devastated.  He tells James that he got an injunction to stop Will Thomerson’s play in New York about Georgie. Jonas has a heart attack and dies.

At Jonas’s funeral, Jackie and Royce return with their eleven year-old son David.

June 1982

Suzanne and Jordan get married after he directs her in the film Jennifer for Rydell Productions.  Renee Merteuil is Suzanne’s maid of honor.

September 1982

Renee moves to the East Coast and attends Howard University.

Suzanne and Victor costar in The Resurrectionist.  She is pregnant during filming.

December 1982

James buys Jonas’s Hollywood mansion.

July 1983

Renee goes on a cruise and meets T.T. Levitt.

August 1983

Alex gives birth to James’s son, Ryan James.

February 1984

James buys Lamont 3 and rebrands it as Sunset Studios.

March 1984

Suzanne gives birth to Jordan’s daughter, Heather.

June 1984

Jackie puts a stop to Roz’s trips to Big Bear to allow Royce to spend time with his illegitimate daughter, Brooke.

July 1984

Tensions mount between Alex and Nathan on the set of Daylight in St. Thomas.

Nathan rapes Alex.  James doesn’t believe her that it happened.

September 1985

Alex gives birth to James’s daughter, Miranda, a baby James pressured her into having when their relationship suffered after the rape.

March 1987

Upon her return from Howard, Renee, 23, begins seeing Nathan.  She’s pregnant with his child and is about to tell him when the police arrive and arrest him for the statutory rape of Debralee Scott.

May 1987

Suzanne convinces Renee to go away to give birth so Nathan won’t find out.

During Nathan’s trial, he threatens Alex against testifying against him.

Victor sneaks Nathan out of town to Paris on his private jet.

September 1987

Renee secretly gives birth to Nathan’s daughter, Sierra, while in London.

May 1989

Royce destroys David’s relationship with Chris Shepard, a local Wyoming girl from the wrong side of the tracks.

January 1990

James and Alex hire a new housekeeper, Leilani Kahoano.  Her infant daughter, Kelly, lives in Hawaii, but visits from time to time over the years.

December 1990

 Suzanne gives birth to Jordan’s son, Benji.

May 1992

James buys Hotel Terranova as a present for Alex.

August 1992

Mickey Donovan goes to live with his father Carlo Bravetti.

July 1995

Jordan begins having an affair with Victor’s wife, Sylvie.  

September 1995

Jordan tells Suzanne about the affair.  Suzanne goes to the Distefano’s house looking for Sylvie but Victor sends her away.  She and Heather get in a car crash and Heather is injured, prompting her to have brain surgery that affects her memory.  She spends several months in a private hospital.

October 1995

Sylvie leaves Victor.

Suzanne begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Wainwright, to help her get over her guilt about Heather’s accident.  Wainwright is actually Victor in disguise seeking revenge against Jordan for ruining his marriage.

March 1996

Victor brainwashes Suzanne into killing Jordan. She kills his brother, Troy, instead.  Jordan buries Troy in the backyard.  Benji sees the act, so Jordan takes him away to boarding school in Switzerland, and he leaves a mentally incapacitated Suzanne to convalesce in a private clinic.

June 1997

At 18, Ethan leaves Kansas and goes to Hollywood and moves in with his uncle James.

August 1999

Alex begins having an affair with Nico Bravetti.

October 1999

Miranda, Stormy, Heather, Eddie and Courtney see Patty Ruiz fall off a scaffolding at Sunset Studios.

September 2000

Nico Bravetti is sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of Patty Ruiz. 

November 2001

James is in Acapulco filming the feature Elena when he meets Leigh Purcell, the wife of a hotel magnate, and they have an affair.

January 2003

Royce and Jackie get divorced.

November 2004

Kyle Fenwick is framed for blowing up a hotel built by Royce Jenner.  The real culprit was his father, Don Fenwick, who had a grudge against Jenner for years over an old business deal.

December 2004

Ethan dates a nurse named Winter Austen but ends things soon after.

February 2005

Royce Jenner’s car goes over PCH on a foggy night.

March 2005

Ryan (aka “Stormy”) and Heather get married.

April 2005

James throws Alex out and begins seeing Brooke, a makeup artist working on his new film, Angel Assassin.

September 2005

Renee’s husband, Kenny DeWitt, begins having an affair with Winter Austen.   

December 2005

James asks Brooke to marry him.