A powerful April storm has felled what was San Francisco's last Doggie Diner head that remained "in the wild."

Seven feet tall, this smiling dachshund head wearing a chef's hat, out near the beach on Sloat Avenue, had outlived the restaurant chain it once advertised, and more recently a political battle between conservationists and progressivists. But a big gust of wind sent the fiberglass sign from its perch atop a rusted 20 foot pole, nose-first, onto the street. No one was hurt, though a phone booth was destroyed in front of the restaurant, currently called The Carousel.

"We've been watching it deteriorate," said Diana Scott, of the Ocean Beach Historical Society. "We were concerned that something like this could happen."

According to The San Francisco Examiner, Department of Public Works officials had just last week taken a look at the dog's pole and told Carousel Restaurant owner Silver Ballesteros that they planned to temporarily remove it this month and restore it with a new pole.

"We've been pushing them since last year . . . that dog head is important to myself and a lot of people. It's like an icon," said Ballesteros.

It is unclear what will become of the dog head. Crews planned to lift the 700-pound statue with a crane and carry it to a secured maintenance yard owned by the city. Preservations agreed that the dog would need a nose job but could be saved.

The dog's head was one of about 50 manufactured to serve as signs for the Doggie Diner chain of fast-food hot dog restaurants, based in the Bay Area and popular in the 1960s and '70s. The head on Sloat Boulevard was the last one remaining outside a restaurant that had once been a Doggie Diner. [2003: The head is reported repaired and back in place.]

[04/08/2001]