For Birthday, City Watches the Birdie 516 Miles Overhead

“Search the skies,” an early Hollywood space opera commanded moviegoers worried about alien invaders, and on Sunday people in Thousand Oaks seemed to be taking that advice seriously.

They stretched their necks toward the heavens--and waved.

“Hi,” said gray-haired Louise Manalio, stepping out from under the awning at a shopping center on Moorpark Road to cast a friendly smile up to a satellite orbiting 516 miles overhead that was focusing its cameras on her.

Well, not only on her, but on all of Thousand Oaks as part of the city’s ongoing commemoration of its 25th anniversary. To cap off a weekend affair called “48 Hours in the Conejo,” involving 75 photographers snapping pictures of everyday life in the burgeoning Conejo Valley, sponsors hired a French satellite to take pictures of the entire 60-square-mile area from space.

Modeled Nightgown

The final results of the photo-snapping from space may not rival Voyager’s findings of ice volcanoes on Triton, one of Neptune’s moons. But a disc jockey for a local radio station was excited by a call from an exuberant woman who said she had sprinted into her back yard to wave at the satellite wearing nothing but a Mickey Mouse nightgown.

Unfortunately for the deejay, despite the fact that a local businessman added $100 to the $2,000 satellite fee to adjust the orbit for an especially good shot, neither the woman in her nightgown nor Manalio’s whimsical smile will show up in the final poster-sized reproductions. About the smallest object that could be seen would be a large crowd of people, said Forrest Frields, coordinator of the photo shoot.

Hoped for 6,000

He had hoped to provide the crowd by attracting 6,000 people to California Lutheran University to pose for a community portrait about the time the satellite was passing overhead. The crowd might be seen from space. But even if it weren’t, the pictures taken by photographers from a scaffold on the campus athletic field would provide a memorable reminder of the event.

In the end, only 500 or so people arrived on Sunday, which Frields blamed on competition from church services.

“People in this community do their best from 11 o’clock on,” said Mayor Larry Horner when asked to explain the small turnout for the morning shoot.

Mayor Overslept

Horner missed the 10 a.m. arrival of the satellite. “I slept late,” explained the vice president for quality assurance at Northrop’s Newbury Park facility. “I had a late event last night.”

Those who showed up at Cal Lutheran seemed determined to make up in good-natured, small-town spirit what they lacked in numbers.

While a barbershop quartet provided entertainment on the athletic field with a four-part rendition of “Cabaret,” Cub Scouts, the Zonta International women’s organization and members of the Conejo Thumpers square-dance troupe lined up under the goal post for a down-to-earth community portrait.

Miniature Horse

Even Ragtime, the infamous midget horse who kicked up a storm of controversy when his owners kept him as a pet in a residential neighborhood, was greeted enthusiastically when he showed up with owner Patty Fairchild.

“I was invited,” Fairchild said in case anyone thought her horse was gate-crashing. Oblivious, Ragtime did a few tricks for children and settled in to munch the end zone.

Other events scheduled in coming weeks as the birthday celebration continues include a community dance and bicycle rides.

Meanwhile, back at the shopping center, the satellite’s passing caught some people unprepared.

“I should have washed my hair this morning,” Allison La Chapelle, 24, said with mock consternation, glancing furtively to the sky.