Speaking of Dan Tana's... On the program "Things That Aren't Here Anymore" previously discussed on NLA, the narrator, Ralph Story, says, and I might be paraphrasing, "Of all the things that aren't here anymore, restaurants are the most notable."
Well, Dan Tana's just had a party to celebrate it's 50th Anniversary! It opened in 1964.
An article
HERE discusses it's star-studded history, the fact it limped along until a turning point occurred in 1976 and was so popular that a devastating fire in 1980 got the patrons and Gov. Jerry Brown among them, to rebuild it as soon as possible.
The article details the improbable success of the owner, Dan Tana, a former Yugoslav soccer star who emigrated to the U.S., dabbled as an actor, mostly on TV, was an employee at Miceli's in Hollywood (also still there!) before opening his own restaurant.
Noted in the article is this history:
The original building and first restaurant were built in 1938 on the former site of a wartime victory garden. The venue was Black’s Lucky Spot Café -- a counter-style lunch joint with a horseshoe-shaped sign displaying its name. The bulk of business came from bands of workers doing maintenance on the old Pacific Electric Red Car Trolley that ran out front along Santa Monica Boulevard (spikes from the original railroad ties are framed on the restaurant's wall). Over the next few years, ownership changed hands between loyal employees and relatives. Black’s became “Domenico’s Lucky Spot,” and then just “Dominic’s” until 1964.
I couldn't locate a photo of the 1938 incarnation. The book "Wartime Slang" says that
victory garden is a World War II expression, however, which doesn't gel with the 1938 timeline.
E_R has a post that shows the current location and also a photo of a Red Car passing by "Domenico's Lucky Horseshoe Cafe." (Indicated it's from the 1940's.) Here's that post:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=15506
This photo may have been posted before. It's dated 1945. You can see the building bottom right where Dan Tana's will be, but can't make out if it's Domenico's as of this date.
This link below is a photo of Dan Tana's in 1964 when it opened. It's way too large to post here, IMO.
http://ww1.prweb.com/prfiles/2014/09...nas%201964.jpg
I did a post of the Santa Monica Blvd./Doheny area where there's a 1965 photo which shows Dan Tana's on the far right.
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...ostcount=21575