The fugitive made the name for himself

Lolita Harper

What happened to the outspoken, defiant, yet charming, Sid Soffer?

Soffer, who has dubbed himself, “The Fugitive,” lives in Las Vegas

and continues to avoid a jail sentence stemming from building code

violations.

Many may remember Soffer’s make-shift car lot. His popular steak

house. His aversion to city codes.

He was a candid man. A blunt speaker. He did not mince words. He

did not stay quiet.

Soffer, who had always lived near the beach, said he misses

Newport-Mesa.

“I have noticed that there is very, very little ocean breeze in

Vegas, practically none,” Soffer said. “There is just something

lacking here.”

The fugitive, who has persistently fought to clear his name, said

he plans to be home soon. His in the middle of the legal process to

prove there are Costa Mesa planning documents that prove his evidence

of innocence. Soffer claims the city has kept that evidence from him.

City officials claim it doesn’t exist.

Those in the know, still keep in touch with Soffer, who always has

an earful about the latest city blunder.

“I hear from him all the time,” said Costa Mesa Mayor Gary

Monahan.

Monahan described Soffer in one word: “cantankerous.”

“He spoke out about everything,” Monahan said. “I remember him at

a meeting wearing an elect Skosh Monahan T-shirt after I was already

on the council.”

Monahan was the manager at Sid’s old steak house on Newport

Boulevard -- before opening his own pub -- and said he learned more

from the disagreeable man about the restaurant business than anyone.

Although Soffer had already retreated to Sin City, Monahan ran the

steakhouse following Soffer’s instructions.

Costa Mesa resident Cass Spence, who works as a Newport Beach code

enforcement officer, said he had the pleasure of knowing Soffer

professionally. Although Spence represented the type of intrusive

government Soffer hated, he never took it out on him personally.

Oddly enough, the two men got along, Spence said. He is one of a

kind, he said.

“Sid was very hands on and knowledgeable, he’s been doing this for

40 years and succeeding,” Monahan said. “He would explain things and

make you think. He always played the devil’s advocate.”

Although he may not reside in the boundaries of Newport-Mesa,

Soffer continues to inflict a little pain on its officials.

The fugitive routinely reads the Pilot on the Internet and writes

letters to the editor and City Hall. Soffer weighs in on various

topics, such as second-story additions and the 19th Street

Transitional area. He also continues to fight his conviction.

In December 2002, Soffer wrote then Mayor Karen Robinson alleging

most of Costa Mesa’s city codes, including the one he was convicted

of violating, were not law because they were not properly “enacted”

as required in the state constitution.

“As Sidney Lester Soffer was charged and convicted of violating

Costa Mesa Municipal Codes which were not law, that means that

information shall be given to the trial court with the request the

conviction be overturned as being void for lack of the court having

jurisdiction,” he wrote.

Still fighting, still fleeing, Soffer is a reoccurring part of

Newport-Mesa history.

* LOOKING BACK runs Sundays. Do you know of a person, place or

event that deserves a historical Look Back? Let us know. Contact

James Meier by fax at (949) 646-4170; e-mail at james.meier@

latimes.com; or mail him at c/o Daily Pilot, 330 W. Bay St., Costa

Mesa, CA 92627.