The Colonel Gets the Bird, Landmark Bucket and All

North County is ruthless with its cultural heritage.

The Del Mar Drive-In, with its lovely Viking ship archway, is now time-share condominiums. A wonderful Hawaiian breakfast place in Leucadia quit serving succulent Portuguese sausage and became a taco stand.

George’s at the Beach in Cardiff is no more. Ditto Dick’s at the Beach. The adobe fire station in Escondido has a date with an earthmover.

And now add to the list of disappearing landmarks: the Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet on Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas, complete with flying bucket visible from Interstate 5.

After 17 finger-lickin’ years, Kentucky Fried is closing forever at the end of business Sunday.

It’s giving up its lease voluntarily so nearby Scripps Memorial Hospital-Encinitas can continue with a $17-million expansion. Demolition will be next month, and soon a parking lot and lawn will appear.

After Sunday, there will be no Kentucky Fried for sale in Encinitas, Solana Beach, Del Mar (Are you kidding?) or Rancho Santa Fe (Get serious.).

That’s a juicy market to surrender to El Pollo Loco. Kentucky Fried wants to find a replacement site, but North County real estate prices are more daunting than a double order of extra crunchy.

Even if a new site is found, it’s a near surety that the flying bucket will never return. Damn those community planning groups.

“The Colonel Sanders bucket is a classic, but few cities will allow it anymore,” said Kentucky Fried spokeswoman Kari Gunderloy. “A few will let you put it up but not let it rotate. It’s a shame.”

Kentucky Fried has 8,000 outlets in 57 countries but it’s not devoid of sentiment. A farewell celebration is set at the doomed outlet from 11 a.m to 3 p.m. Saturday; two pieces of chicken and a hot buttermilk biscuit will sell for $1.

Scripps has promised to name something in the hospital in honor of the fast-food giant.

But don’t look for Scripps to sprout a Kentucky Fried Chicken Wing. Grandma might object to going there to have her gallbladder removed.

Food for Talk

If you need conversation starters for your back-yard barbecue, try these:

* The John Birch Society is still trying to whoop up opposition to the Soviet Arts Festival, using scary quotes from Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev and Dimitry Manuiliski, an instructor at the Lenin School of Political Warfare, 1930.

* To anyone who saw her recent speech to a Rancho Santa Fe group, it’s not news that the gubernatorial bid of former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein is in disarray.

Her political consultant quit this week with a blast about Feinstein not being mentally prepared for a tough campaign.

At Rancho Santa Fe, Feinstein was informed and passionate about foreign policy. On matters closer to home, she was mumble, fumble and fake it.

* Headline on a press release from the National Park Service: “Bird Walks at Cabrillo National Monument.”

Call me back when the bird flies.

* Money magazine has listed San Diego as the 52nd-best area to live in the United States.

Riverside-San Bernardino (land of the midnight smog attack) was 11th. Go figure.

Bulldozer Delight

It’s election season, and four San Diego City Council members and their would-be replacements are out hustling campaign money.

It’s no secret where they get most of it. The council’s dependence on the building industry has even given rise to its own kind of humor.

Take tonight’s fund-raiser for Councilman Ed Struiksma. He’s part of the council’s ruling coalition that loves the smell of freshly poured concrete in the morning.

The fund-raiser--dubbed Struiksmafest ‘89--will gather 100 or more contributors (called “cash constituents” by the pros) for an evening of beer and Bavarian music at the Mission Brewery Plaza. A naughty joke is making the political rounds.

Question: How can you tell if it’s a Struiksma fund-raiser?

Answer: There’s valet parking for the bulldozers.