Conejo Post

We are pretty laid back in the Conejo Valley and the one major celebrity encounter I had was very relaxed – even neighborly – in a Conejo Valley way.  I met John Schneider in Brown’s Photo Store in Agoura Hills, around the fall of 1999 or 2000.  The store, which was a good place for photo developing or getting advice on cameras, has since turned off the lights and shut its door, but my memory is still bright of my celebrity encounter there.

I went into Brown’s to buy albums to put childhood photos inside them for all my kids, for Christmas gifts that year.  There were a lot of photos, and I needed to install album extenders, which were metal pieces that extended the rings the pages went on.  I was having a hard time doing this.  It took a lot of concentration and manual dexterity!

While I was working on the albums, there was another customer in the store, visiting about motorcycles with a young woman behind the counter.  The other customer was a very handsome, blond man, who looked so familiar.  I kept glancing over at him, trying to place who he was, as the discussion continued.  Somehow or other, I joined in visiting, and pretty soon the handsome stranger had taken over fixing my albums, and doing a much better job than I had done! 

Finally, I recognized that he was John Schneider, but did not mention it.  Why spoil the moment?  It was so cool just the way it was, because we were all just locals hanging out in the neighborhood photo store.  Anyway, years later, I am going to say, “Thank you, John!  Thank you for helping me put together the Christmas presents for my kids!”

Posted by Janna Orkney