No Chicken Feed: Kentucky Fried Is Behind in the Pecking Order

Return of the Colonel. Or: It’s hard to keep a good chicken down.

When last we left Kentucky Fried Chicken, the poultry-peddling outlet on Santa Fe Drive in Encinitas was voluntarily closing its doors.

A decision had been made by corporate headquarters in Louisville, Ky., to surrender the venerable site so nearby Scripps Memorial Hospital could expand.

The hospital vetoed my suggestion that it show its gratitude by dedicating a Kentucky Fried Chicken Wing.

For 17 years the Kentucky Fried on Santa Fe Drive had beckoned the hungry and tired from Interstate 5 with its big bucket in the sky. Then it was gone, and Encinitas was the less.

The buzzword for Encinitas is “affluent.” But can a town without Kentucky Fried Chicken truly be said to have everything?

Fifty-eight countries (7,945 outlets) have Kentucky Fried, including countries where a picture of the current dictator hangs next to that of Colonel Sanders. But not Encinitas.

Not to worry.

Tonight, an Encinitas planning advisory board will consider a Kentucky Fried request to take over the former Long John Silver fish restaurant on El Camino Real, a juicy spot between Carl’s Jr. and The Wherehouse.

Kentucky Fried hopes to open by the end of August, nearly a year to the day since the last buttermilk biscuit was served on Santa Fe Drive.

“We’ve been trying desperately to find a suitable replacement,” said Kentucky Fried construction engineer Jack Rose. “We’ve got to get back in there to protect our market.”

One spur: the opening last year of an El Pollo Loco on El Camino Real.

To make its return, Kentucky Fried will have to make compromises.

The exterior will have to match the surrounding red-tile fake-Spanish motif. And forget the outdoor bucket on a pole.

A small price to pay for cultural restoration.

Keeping the Lid On

And another thing (or two).

* Rumor: San Diego City Manager John Lockwood is on the verge of announcing his retirement.

Truth: Soon, maybe, but not quite yet.

Lockwood, 59, says he won’t make any decision until after he accompanies a Chamber of Commerce trade mission--at his own expense--to Eastern Europe in September.

He adds that he thought of the manager’s job as a five-year capper to his city career when he accepted it nearly four years ago: October, 1986.

One piece of evidence that Lockwood is thinking of life after city government is that he just bought a Buick Reatta after a dozen years of driving a blah city-issued vehicle.

The Reatta is sportier (bucket seats) than a city car and doesn’t have any restrictions on how far it can be driven from City Hall.

* A pen-and-ink street scene by French Impressionist Camille Pisarro has failed to sell at an auction by the San Francisco-Los Angeles auction house Butterfield & Butterfield.

Appraisal price was $7,000 to $10,000.

The six-inch-square drawing was once shown at the San Diego Museum of Art. At the time, it was owned by Richard T. Silberman.

Silberman’s wife, Supervisor Susan Golding, says Silberman told her that he is no longer the owner.

Butterfield & Butterfield won’t confirm, deny or comment at all about current ownership: “The owner was very explicit: ‘No publicity.’ ”

Advertising Their Losses

Seen and heard.

* A Del Mar couple is posting flyers offering a $500 reward for their lost cat.

The flyers are the work of a San Jose firm that specializes in lost pets: Sherlock Bones Inc. Just call 1-800-940-BONES.

* How impoverished are enlisted Marines?

Take that pickup truck in Vista with a Marine Corps decal in the back window.

It also had a bumper sticker: Don’t Worry, There’s Always Welfare.