Countdown to 2000: 1980s Personalities --

Andrew Glazer

The major personalities of the 1980s include two wealthy men: An

introverted billionaire and an outspoken restaurateur.

Sid Soffer, wealthy businessman curmudgeon and collector of cars, began

his battle with Costa Mesa in the 1980s.

He said his front yard was as good of a place as any for his 11 rusted

antique cars. The city declared them a nuisance and towed three away.

Soffer declared the city a nuisance right back and sued. He lost. He also

refused to pay the $300 fine the city slapped on him.

The former owner of the Newport Beach restaurant The Blue Beet, who had a

large wardrobe of white T-shirts, also was cited for violating building

codes when he converted his garage into apartment units. Soffer is now

living on the lam in Las Vegas after being convicted in 1995 for --

surprise, surprise -- code violations.

Donald Bren, who in the 1980s scaled the Forbes magazine list of the

nation’s 400 richest as the chairman of the Irvine Co., tried to be much

more discreet. He tried, but being handsome and the 12th-richest man in

the country, it was hard. Newspapers kept close tabs on who was draped on

his arm at Newport Beach functions -- “Was that Steve McQueen’s widow?”

Bren wanted nothing of his personal life revealed. But his vision for

Orange County -- of which the Irvine Co. owned one-sixth -- was to be

seen by everyone living there. He wanted to create a “total community,

with homes and businesses in which to work and hospitals ... without the

negative environment of other cities.”Sources:

Daily Pilot

Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times Magazine

“Newport Beach: The First Century, 1888-1988,” edited by James P. Felton.