Memories of Meeting Alex O’Loughlin by H50Fanatic Ellen

The story of meeting Alex started in February 2011.  I was thinking that I wanted to try and meet him. It made sense to me that he might do talk shows after the first season of Hawaii Five-0 wrapped in the spring.

I have a friend who works in the industry.  I started to put together a plan to go to NYC, where I’m from.  I thought if he was there for the Upfronts and did talk shows, I’d have a couple of chances to try and see him and see some old friends at the same time. To plan a trip like this, I needed way more information than I had.  I knew enough to know that I wasn’t connected at all to the inside information.  I started to search the Internet and finally realized that Twitter would be the place to learn what was happening – so I had to “learn twitter”.

I was rewarded almost immediately.  I read a tweet from an artist Kent Williams who wrote; “My friend Alex O’Loughlin has agreed to host my gallery opening in May”.  I started to re-plan my trip to come home from NYC by way of Los Angeles, since the gallery opening was the weekend after the Upfronts.  I still couldn't believe that getting into the gallery could be that easy, so I called for information.  When I spoke to the gallery staff asking if tickets were needed and what the attire usually was for events like this, the woman said “there is a private reception before the opening, would you like me to put your name on the list?”  Incredible!  From that moment on, going to New York began to fall off my radar and I focused on a weekend trip to LA.

I asked a few of my new friends on twitter who also lived in California if they were planning to go. Unfortunately, no one was going.  That made me wonder if I was completely mistaken about this. I’d get to LA and no one would be there.  I worried about this for weeks.  Flying to LA for 24 hours just to try and meet a TV star for a few minutes sounded like a crazy idea to just about everyone I knew. I felt like I just had to try if there was the smallest chance Alex would be there.

The morning I flew out I was so excited. Wearing the clothes that I bought just for the trip (nothing I owned was “LA gallery appropriate” in my mind), a line from the Alex's movie The Back Up Plan was playing in my head... “did you buy that for me?” It made me laugh out loud as I waited for the shuttle. I started texting Deb.  "I'm getting nervous." "This was crazy."  Oh, would my husband laugh if I went all the way to LA and didn’t see Alex?  I’d never live it down.  And what if I DID see Alex and I couldn’t speak?

My friend from LA picked me up at the airport. We had a fun day catching up and trying to keep my mind off the evening to come.  I had gotten up at 4:00 a.m. to get to the airport on time so by mid-afternoon I was starting to lose my adrenaline high.  I went to lie down and Deb sent me a text “how are you doing?”  It was so great to have that support from across the country while I watched the clock and wondered what was going to happen next.  We texted back and forth for a while and I started to calm down. Mostly by telling myself that he probably wouldn’t even be there so what was the point in getting nervous.

We drove to the gallery. My friend wasn’t sure there would be anything there to see.  She said “I’ll just sit in the car and wait for a bit – you go in and see if there is anything happening before I put money in the meter”. I got out of the car and walked to the door and there were security guards there with a list and my name was on it.  I walked inside and the gallery was almost empty.  There were two staff members behind the counter, someone putting out wine and water bottles and a man I guessed was probably Kent Williams, the artist.  I looked over just a few feet away and there was a videographer taking pictures of - - Alex. He was talking about a painting.  He was standing in a room that was almost empty, not ten feet from where I was standing.

That’s when I began to feel like I was watching myself walking in a dream or a movie.  It was very surreal.  I took a quick picture of very poor quality on my phone and tweeted it.  I couldn’t believe it.  We didn’t take pictures with flash while the videographer was working. There were a few other fans there and we just stood there, watched and waited.  As soon as Alex was done, we approached him for pictures and to talk.

After  posing for pictures with us, he said that he had to mingle with the other guests. He didn’t object when we approached him again later to talk.  I brought my dvd case of the Oyster Farmer for him to sign, which he did. He surprised me when he asked me for my name. I guess I assumed he’d just sign his name and give it back to me. Then, and I realize this will sound so fan-girlish, we touched hands when he gave me my sharpie pen back.

  

After about 45 minutes, my friend decided we should go.  The public event was going to start soon and there would be a crowd.  I couldn't believe I had to leave him. It still didn’t seem real. Did I actually just spend almost an hour with Alex O'Loughlin in a room with less than a dozen people in it? Yes, yes I did.

My friend and I left and drove back to her place to upload her pictures.  It was incredible having her there to take photos. I don’t think that I would have been able to do it.  While we were driving I called @terrysagirl (another Twitter friend) and told her not to post the phone pictures that I had tweeted earlier on her Facebook wall. We had much better photos in the camera that we would send as soon as we got home. When we got back to the house we uploaded the pictures. Terry posted them and I made an album for Facebook. 

Since going to LA, there was one question many people had been asking me. "Are you going to Sunset On the Beach?"  Before I went to the gallery I wasn't sure. Would I want to go all the way to Hawaii after flying to LA?  Would I feel like since I met him in LA, I’d “done it” and not need to go to the premiere in Hawaii?  I thought that maybe if LA was a bust and if I didn’t see Alex, I’d want to try again in Hawaii.  I thought that maybe, if I got an autograph I’d feel like I had succeeded and that would be the end of it.

Well, I don’t remember how long it took, but it wasn’t long before I knew - -  I was going to Hawaii in September for the premiere.

Sunset On The Beach - Hawaii Five-0 Season 2 Premiere 9-10-11

 
The sun begins to set on Waikiki and the red carpet has been rolled out. Lights, camera, action! The festivities began with some live music from Hapa. Then we were treated to some awesome fire dancers. Along for the ride was a local DJ tossing some Hawaii Five-0 visors to the crowd. The media lined up along the red carpet setting up their areas for their interviews with the stars. One by one, the crew members arrived and made their way to their seats as we awaited the arrival of the cast. Amongst the media, some of our own Five-0 twitter pals, Wendie Staszkow Burbridge (@WendieJoy), Mike Gordon (@CrankyDad), and Mel (@Melapaloosa).

In the distance, we could hear the fans screaming behind the massive viewing screen. Making their way through the media blitz, the Hawaii Five-0 cast. First cast member down the carpet, Masi Oka (Dr. Max Bergman)  He was so nice to everybody. Signed many autographs and greeted all of the five-0 fans graciously.

Second in line, the five-0 Executive Producers, Peter Lenkov and Roberto Orci. They were both so overwhelmed to see the massive turn out for the show. People as far away as Germany, Hungary and Alex's native Australia were among the crowd. Many of us were locals or from the mainland. We were all there to cheer on our favorite cast and crew and to celebrate season 2.

Little by little the screaming would crescendo. We knew the Five-0 team was here.  Daniel Dae Kim arrived looking handsome as ever. He was also very gracious, stopping for pictures and signing
 autographs for the fans that waited all day in the hot sun for him to arrive.

Following Daniel were the beautiful ladies of Five-0 this season, Grace Park, Lauren German and Daniela Ruah. Daniela was in town to film her cross-over episode from her series NCIS:LA. Grace walked down the carpet so fast, I didn't get one shot of her. Thank goodness one of us did. We hear she looked stunning all dolled up for this exciting occassion.  Daniela and Lauren looked beautiful too. Both wearing white and cream colored dresses and very high heels.  Wearing them proved to be a risky venture when they stepped off the red carpet and onto the beach to greet the fans. Sinking fast into the sand and making their way to the fans behind the barricades calling to them for a picture or an autograph.

The crowds screams were hitting a higher decibel level now. Scott Caan, Terry O'Quinn, Marc Dacascos and the Big Kahuna himself, Alex O'Loughlin finally arrived. As they made their way down the red carpet, screams of Scott, Terry, Mark and ALEX danced upon the night air. Flashes were going off like fireflies dancing in the night. You just didn't know where to turn next.  Each of them came off the red carpet, greeted their adoring fans, stopped to take pictures and signed a lot of autographs. All we could do was watch and take pictures as each handsome man went by us. Scott was kind enough to stop and strike a pose with another one of our twitter peeps, Andy. (@Andyisjiajia) We think Andy had an outer body experience when Scott came up to him, signed his photography book and took this  picture. 

       

 Marc (WoFat) Dacascos was kind enough to stop and take a beautiful picture with me. Thanks to my twitter pal @ltaelor (Letty) for getting such this great shot!

Sneaking his way quietly down to the end of the red carpet with his kids in tow, Taylor Wily (Kamekona) stopped to say hello too.

Then it was finally time to see Alex. As he came off the carpet and greeted his screaming fans, we just stood by and watched his every move amongst the crowd.  Each of us took as many pictures of him as we could. We had to remind ourselves to just breathe. He was so much more handsome in person than we could have ever imagined. His rugged good looks and stunning greenish-blue eyes with those long eyelashes just left us speechless.  He passed me by and walked over to the other barricade area to my right. He continued to sign many autographs, pose for pictures and give hugs when he could. As he tuned back around, he was greeted by my buddies, Ellen, Stacey and Deb. Each of them said hello, gave him a lei or just got an autograph. As many of you know from our initial story, the four of us made a special quilt for Alex. At this point in he night, he finally got to see it hanging on the barricade in front of us. Ellen explained that one side of the quilt was traditional Hawaiian fabric. The other side was a dedication to him from us and a few other fans. Each square represented some movie, tv show or part of his life. He was thrilled and amazed by it. He thanked us and told us to please drop it off to the H50 production offices making sure he'd get it. So on Wednesday afternoon, we did just that. Thanks to our twitter pal @LisaLisa98 for getting it all on video.

Alex seeing the quilt

As Alex made his was back down towards the red carpet. Madaline could barely get up the nerve to say his name loud enough for him to turn towards her. As he did, all she could do was present him with an orchid lei. He lowered his head, she placed the lei around his neck, and he graciously bowed and acknowledge her with a kind thank you. She definetly died and went to heaven. Thank goodness
 our twitter friends Letty and Lisa had her back. Pictures and video were taken of that very moment. 

                                           

After the cast made their way back up the red carpet they found their seats among the crew, family members and friends seated in front of the viewing screen and stage. The mayor of Hawaii got up on stage to declare Sept. 10th Hawaii Five-0 day. The crowd went nuts!  After the President of CBS, Peter Lenkov and Bob Orci said their peace, they began to call up the Five-0 cast members on stage.

Each was presented a beautiful lei and lined up on stage for all of us to cheer. Alex said a few words of thanks to the fans and his fellow cast members. When they were all done they departed he stage. It was finally time for the big premiere. The lights were dimmed and the crowd grew quiet. Opening scene played and season 2 had begun. Then a familiar sound came through the speakers...the Hawaii Five-0 theme song. Everybody cheered with excitement. During the premiere the were many ooo's and aah's going on. Pleasant sighs every time Alex was on screen. Gasps and screams were heard during some scenes too. We won't give anything away as so many of you have not seen this episode yet. Just know this...you're going to love it!

A fun time was had by all on this very long day. Getting up and onto the beach at 3:00 a.m. was worth the lack of sleep. Mahalo to Peter Lenkov, cast and crew on a job well done. Season 2 is going to be a

very exciting time. Many new twists and turns are in store for all of us...and that's just the way we like it.