Dan Tana

Dan Tana was a restaurateur, professional soccer player, international soccer executive, film producer, and one of Hollywood’s legendary hosts—a true citizen of the world. 

Born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, he survived World War II before crossing Europe as a teenage soccer prodigy and finding his way to Hollywood. In the 1950s and ’60s, he acted in films alongside Robert Mitchum and Glenn Ford and moved easily among figures such as Frank Sinatra, Natalie Wood, and the Kennedys.

In 1964, while helping pioneer professional soccer in the United States, he opened Dan Tana’s in Los Angeles, which became an enduring gathering place for artists, athletes, and cultural icons—so woven into the city’s fabric that journalists likened it to palm trees and the Hollywood sign. In 1975, he became chairman of Brentford FC in the UK. In 2000, he joined the board of Red Star Belgrade, the club he had played for as a teenager.

Married twice, he was the father of two daughters, film producer Gabrielle Tana and designer Katerina Tana. Dan passed away, at age ninety, three months after completing Everybody Came to Tana’s.