They shoot logos, don’t they?Encinitas is upset...

They shoot logos, don’t they?Encinitas is upset with Hollywood.

Residents complain that the San Diego County town’s 5-year-old logo, which includes the head of a horse, prompts too many jokes about the 1972 movie “The Godfather.” Specifically, it recalls the scene in which mobsters leave a severed horse’s head in the bed of a Hollywood producer who has ignored their casting advice.

So the city is offering $500 to anyone who can design a new horseless logo. The city hopes it’s an offer that starving artists, at least, may not be able to refuse.

“Frankly, it bothers me that people associate Encinitas with a stupid movie,” said Councilwoman Anne Omsted. “We’re a decent, law-abiding community and we just don’t need people associating us with ‘The Godfather.’ ”

Let alone “Mr. Ed.”

Oh, buzz off: San Diego ranked No. 9, and L.A. was No. 14 in the latest ranking of the most polite U.S. cities, as compiled by an etiquette expert.

Cheyenne, Wyo.--now that it has stopped hanging suspected horse thieves--was declared the courtesy champ, according to author Marjabelle Young-Stewart of Kewanee, Ill.

Residents of the Pacific Northwest, already edgy about Angelenos relocating there, will have mixed emotions over the high rankings of Portland (No. 4), and Seattle (No. 5).

As for L.A., Young-Stewart said: “The one complaint we keep getting is that on the freeways people are not very good about letting others into their lane.”

So? Only a few drivers resort to firearms.

Historic eggplants: Byron Paul of Santa Monica was sad to hear of the displacement of Malibu’s Crypto-Phenomena Museum, which is currently homeless.

“I now have no place to display the photo of The Nixon/Agnew eggplants, which bear a striking resemblance to the resigned President and resigned vice president,” he wrote, calling particular attention to the “noses.”

“The political produce popped up in my garden one year in the mid-’70s,” he said. “We kept the curious couple around for a while. But the eggplants were also the victims of turbulent times--they, too, had to be thrown out.”

Only in L.A., incidentally, is holding a contest to find a new home for the Crypto--and for art treasures such as Paul’s eggplant portrait. Whichever one of you comes up with the most creative suggestion will win a tube of Sonny Tan lotion, bearing the face of Sonny Bono, if you can bear it.

Overheard: “Only a man would say this,” declared a mom at a Long Beach playground. “My husband explained he didn’t want to cut the grass in our back yard this weekend because it should be high for our Easter egg hunt.”

All right, empty ‘em: Comic Jay Leno says that when Charles Keating checked into prison after his conviction in L.A. Superior Court, his pockets contained “a watch, a wallet and three senators.”

miscelLAny:

Hopalong Cassidy’s horse, Topper, is buried at Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park, as is the dog from the “Our Gang” movies, Pete.