Dan Tana, founder of eponymous L.A. restaurant known for celebrity clientele, dead at 90

Dan Tana, a native of Serbia, played professional soccer before opening his namesake restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.

Dan Tana’s has long been a favorite of show business A-listers, and once welcomed regulars including Johnny Carson and Elizabeth Taylor.

Dan Tana, the restaurateur whose eponymous Santa Monica Boulevard eatery has for decades been a Hollywood hotspot — one with dishes named for celebrities who are liable to be there on any given night — died in Belgrade, Serbia, on Saturday. He was 90.

Tana, born Dobrivoje Tanasijević, was a professional soccer player before opening the clubby red-sauce Italian restaurant in 1964, running it until he sold it in 2009 . By then, its reputation as a favorite of A-listers had been cemented by the regular presence o