Dan Tana, the erstwhile actor-turned-restaurateur whose eponymous West Hollywood eatery was a hotspot for celebrities for the past half century, has died at the age of 90, the restaurant’s staff announced on Facebook.
“The great Dan Tana has passed on,” the post read. “We all know that he created a very magical place. Our beloved little yellow house will forever feel his presence.”
“Dan started out working for La Scala and The Villa Capri in the 1950s. It was working for those classic eateries that encouraged him to open his own! And he did just that. He was always proud of where he came from and what he accomplished, a former soccer star from Yugoslavia,” the statement continued.
“Dan had wonderful stories about Marilyn Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, James Dean, Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis. In fact Robert Urich’s character was named after Dan Tana on the classic TV show, Vega$. Today Dan Tana’s is owned by his dear friend Sonja Perencevic who’s kept it exactly the same since 1964. This man is a legend, and as you know a legend never dies,” the obit concluded.
Born Dobrivoje Tanasijević in former Yugoslavia’s Belgrade, Tana’s background was in professional soccer, for which he moved to Canada to pursue. Deciding to forgo his sports career, Tana relocated to Hollywood, where he started out as a dishwasher, before moving up to be maître d’hôtel. At the time, Tana also began undertaking drama lessons with Jeff Corey, whose pupils included Natalie Wood, Angie Dickinson and Kim Novak. After Americanizing his name, he had his feature film debut in 1957’s The Enemy Below, later appearing in series like Peter Gunn.
He opened Dan Tana’s Restaurant in 1964, taking over Dominick’s hamburger stand on Santa Monica Boulevard. Featuring typical New York Italian fare and making the decision to keep the place open later than usual, the establishment was propelled to success after a glowing Los Angeles Times review in 1966 significantly bolstered its customer base.
Due to its location being a stone’s throw from famed music venue and nightclub Troubadour, Dan Tana’s was frequented by the likes of Elton John, Bette Midler, Axl Rose and Springsteen. Since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was previously housed around the corner, the establishment also drew other notable attendees like Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Jack Nicholson, Cameron Diaz and Johnny Carson, who proclaimed it as his favorite L.A. restaurant during an episode of The Tonight Show after guest Richard Burton complained about being turned away from one of its coveted 17 tables.
Since accumulating a star-studded clientele, the restaurant has named a number of its signature dishes after A-listers, including veal cutlets named after Jerry Weintraub and George Clooney, shrimp scampi Jerry Buss and New York steak Dabney Coleman.
Prior to his death, Tana sold the restaurant to current owner Perencevic in 2009 and retired to Belgrade, Serbia.
