What do you get when you combine an actor from the California-based GENERAL HOSPITAL and an experience that he's never had before? You get Steve Burton's (Jason) first visit to New York City, and Soap Opera Update was there to document his trip. "I really like New York," Steve Burton told us. "I could imagine myself living here for a while. I like how everything is so close," he detailed while walking down Fifth Avenue, but admits, "I would have to live here in the summer. I don't think I could take it in the winter."

Burton knows what cold weather is all about. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, he's been quite removed from the snowstorms that brew off of Lake Erie, and has been more accustomed to the waters of the Pacific Ocean, where he surfs constantly. While New York offered thrills equal to great wave, of course, there were disappointments. "The Empire State Building," shook his head, still in disbelief, "that was a major let-down. I looked up at it and thought, 'That's it??? That's the Empire State Building?"' Although a skyscraper disappointed Steve, his storyline hasn't. "I like what Jason has been doing," he revealed, "and I think they are going to concentrate on Jason's relationship with Brenda, which the viewers seem to be responding to favorably."

His GH character Jason may not be much of a shopper, but Steve Burton browsed through stores with the best of them. "I've found that the prices are really good in New York. Leather jackets are much cheaper here than in Los Angeles, and watches. . ."

There, he said it. The "w" word. Watches.

Steve Burton is obsessed with them. Not only did he peruse them in whatever store was selling them, but high on his list of "Things To Do In New York," was checking out the fake designer watches that are sold out of briefcases on the street. While one salesman didn't mind striking a deal with Steve, he did mind photos being taken of him. Accusing us of being with the mob, and trying to tear the camera from around our photographer's neck, the skirmish that resulted gave Steve Burton an authentic dose of New York reality. In the city's defense, Steve noticed, "There's a lot more racial harmony in this city than Los Angeles. Because everyone has to walk down the street together and be so close to one another."

From a near-violent act to another typical New York event buying a pretzel from a vendor on the street. "I've never seen pretzels like this. Are they supposed to be this hard?" he asked while chewing the doughy treat. Finally, somewhere between Rockefeller Center and The Plaza, Burton found himself really getting into the city, but he didn't lose sight of his priorities. What did he do the night before when he had the entire city at his disposal? "I was at the hotelthere's a sports bar downstairs, so I was watching a fight!"