Inaspect the Historical past of L.A.’s Well-known Dan Tana’s Restaurant

For greater than six a long time, A-listers have flocked to L.A. hotspot Dan Tana’s — and never only for the legendary rooster parm. Dan Tana, who died Aug. 16 at 90, opened his eponymous West Hollywood Italian restaurant in 1964 and established the nice and cozy service that grew to become a calling card.

Born in Belgrade, Tana performed professional soccer in Canada earlier than shifting to the U.S. to pursue appearing. While honing his craft, he landed gigs at L.A. eating places Miceli’s and La Scala. Tana’s personal spot took over for the previous Dominick’s on a stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard that was not but the nightlife vacation spot it will develop into.

Business was gradual till a 1966 L.A. Times evaluation deemed it the “best new Italian restaurant in the city.” Popularity additionally elevated in the course of the ’70s with the prominence of close by music venue the Troubadour, as performers like Elton John and the Eagles — whose “Lyin’ Eyes” was impressed by nights at Dan Tana’s — would frequent it after reveals.

“He didn’t make it as an actor, but he certainly got to hang out with them,” Alison Martino, a longtime pal of the restaurant who runs its Facebook web page, tells The Hollywood Reporter. Indeed, the eatery’s comforting red-sauce fare and informal really feel helped endear it to well-known regulars Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Jack Nicholson, to call a couple of. In 1999, James Woods sung its praises to THR.

Some menu objects are named after particular friends, just like the veal Milanese à la George Clooney, who hosted his 2006 post-Oscars occasion at Dan Tana’s. “It feels like you walked right into the moment it was conceived,” Cameron Diaz instructed THR in 2014 about its unchanged look.

Tana dabbled in movie producing, and his identify impressed Robert Urich’s moniker, Dan Tanna, on Vega$, a collection produced by Dan Tana’s fan Aaron Spelling. After spurning presents from such events as maitre d’ Craig Susser — who opened his personal namesake restaurant in 2011 — Tana offered Dan Tana’s in 2009 to pal Sonja Perencevic, who nonetheless runs it.

“He really cemented a following before he sold it, and they didn’t change anything,” says George Geary, writer of L.A.’s Legendary Restaurants. “It’s just that old Hollywood feel.”

In 2014, Tana recalled to THR that Drew Barrymore’s mother and father modified her diaper on the bar and marveled, “We are still serving my original customers — and their children and grandchildren.”

This story appeared within the Sep. 3 challenge of The Hollywood Reporter journal. Click here to subscribe.