For decades, the iconic family-owned Dan Tana’s Italian restaurant has been a Hollywood hotspot, thanks in part to its long list of celebrity clientele.
Opened in 1964 by the late Serbian-American restaurateur and soccer player Dan Tana, the establishment has become a landmark in the heart of West Hollywood.
In honor of Tana, born Dobrivoje Tanasijević, who died in August 2025 at age 90, his two daughters, Katerina and Gabrielle, recently published his posthumous memoir, Everybody Came to Tana’s: An American Dream Come True. The book chronicles his journey from wartime Yugoslavia to Los Angeles, where he befriended movie legends Frank Sinatra and James Dean before founding his beloved eatery.
While attracting a famous crowd was never Tana’s intention, the restaurant’s timeless, red-checkered tablecloths and homey atmosphere has drawn generations of high-profile regulars, from Brad Pitt, Fred Astaire, Elizabeth Taylor, Drew Barrymore and Leonardo DiCaprio to Barack Obama, Joni Mitchell, Bob Newhart and John Belushi, accordingVanity Fair.
The book contains several stories about the celebrities who would come in on a weekly basis.
Tana remembered that O.J. Simpson was a regular patron. But after the football star was accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman (charges he was ultimately acquitted of), Tana told him to never come back.
The book also recounts stories of the celebrities who dined at his restaurant in the hours before their tragic deaths.
“One night I will never forget: August 9, 1969. Celebrity hairstylist Jay Sebring, who had dated Sharon Tate, was hosting a party of six people at the restaurant,” the memoir reads. “In the middle of dinner, someone called him. He paid the check and left. I think he then met Tate and several friends at another restaurant and afterward they went to [Roman] Polanski’s house. Hours later, Jay and the others were brutally murdered by three members of Charles Manson’s family.”
Tana further recalled witnessing Belushi’s deadly cocaine addiction first-hand, writing: “Belushi was also a regular whenever he was in town. People routinely put mirrors on their tables or on the bar and snorted lines of cocaine, Belushi being among the most open about it.
“Belushi declined [Robert] De Niro’s and Harry Dean’s invitation to join them for dinner, but he did order a steak delivered to him at his bungalow at the Chateau Marmont Hotel, where he died of a drug overdose later that night.”
Despite the star power Dan Tana’s attracted, Katerina said that her father was always welcoming of everyday patrons.
“One time our father came in from London and saw a celebrity at every single table,” Katerina told Vanity Fair.
“He turned to [maître d’] Guido and said, ‘The next time you come in here, you’re fired, if that’s the case, because I want real people here. Those people will come one day and then they won’t come the next. They will follow each other, and they’re fickle. I want real people, I want doctors, I want lawyers, I want businesspeople.’”
