![\"Father-daughter](\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/media\/photo\/2010-01\/51910953.jpg\")
<\/img><\/p>\n<\/img><\/p>\n
John Papadakis’ restaurant is a lot like its owner — big, brash and
\nloud. No dim lights, no quiet romantic evening here. On a typical
\nnight, the music builds and Papadakis breaks into a Greek dance with a
\nwaitress, a pair of belly dancers wriggle through the aisles as the
\nowner tosses dollar bills at them, an 88-year-old tuxedo-clad violinist
\nwho played with Frank Sinatra strolls through the restaurant.<\/p>\n
<\/br>Plates break, a dish of saganaki <\/em>is set on fire. A tap dancer in a baggy suit stomps in front of a self-portrait of Anthony Quinn as Zorba the Greek. How many restaurants show up as answers on "Jeopardy"?<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/br><\/p>\n But
<\/br>
<\/br>For
\ndecades, Papadakis Taverna has been the best-known attraction in San
\nPedro, not just for its food and atmosphere, but as an out-of-the-way
\nplace where celebrities such as Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Hanks
\nand Paula Abdul gathered. It’s where Pete Carroll, then-coach of the
\nowner’s beloved USC Trojans, would close the deal with high school
\nrecruits. It was where Natalie Wood ate the night before she drowned
\noff Santa Catalina in 1981.
<\/br>
<\/br><\/p>\n
\nafter 37 years of Greek dancing and plate-smashing, John Papadakis is
\nclosing the restaurant Sunday. In a place where people come to watch
\nhim as much as they come for the spanakopita and moussaka, "Sometimes I
\nget tired of playing me," he said.<\/p>\n