Compatriot Holds the Key to Dancing at the Great Greek

The fate of Sherman Oaks’ Great Greek is in the hands of Tarzana’s “great Greek.”

The first is a popular Ventura Boulevard restaurant whose owners are applying for a city permit that will allow their customers to continue conga-line-style Greek dancing around dinner tables.

The second is Greek-born Nick Patsaouras, a member of the Los Angeles city Board of Zoning Appeals, who was called upon Tuesday to break a deadlock among other panel members over whether such a permit should be issued.

Operators of the 5-year-old Great Greek restaurant have applied for a city entertainment permit that would legitimize the “spontaneous” dancing that breaks out nightly at the eatery when the music of a Greek bouzouki sets waiters singing.

Nearby homeowners have opposed the permit on grounds that the restaurant has failed to live up to customer parking requirements imposed by the city when the first permit was issued in 1984.

When an associate zoning administrator approved the dancing license three months ago, homeowners appealed. Their protest triggered a 2 1/2-hour City Hall hearing before four members of the zoning board. But Patsaouras, a Tarzana resident who heads the panel, was absent.

Homeowner John Allen told the board that the restaurant has failed to come up with 60 off-street parking spaces that the original city permit demanded. He displayed large photographs he said showed a Great Greek employee illegally parking his car on a residential street a block south of the restaurant.

Leases Negotiated

But restaurant co-owner Vicki Criezis testified that she has negotiated leases that allow her valet parking attendants to park the required 60 customer cars during nighttime hours on neighboring businesses’ property. She said attendants for other area restaurants do park customers’ cars on the street, however. She came armed with large color photographs of similarly dressed attendants that suggested homeowners are confusing hers with those of her rivals.

Board members John W. Mack and Joseph D. Mandel voted against the permit after criticizing the restaurant for dancing around the parking issue and ignoring the city’s earlier requirements. “I’m not going to countenance someone thumbing their nose at the city,” Mandel said.

Colleagues James D. Leewong and Ilene Olansky voted for the permit, however, after suggesting that the restaurant’s 119-person occupancy be reduced by 10%. Both said they’d eaten at the restaurant and found dancing around the dinner tables fun, if somewhat crowded.

‘Unrealistic’ Position

“I think it’s unrealistic to deny an act that will happen in any event,” Leewong said of the dancing.

Leewong said Patsaouras, whom he called “the real great Greek,” must listen to a tape of Tuesday’s meeting and can then cast the deciding vote. If Patsaouras does not vote, the permit will automatically be granted.

Patsaouras could not be reached for comment.

However, he once told an interviewer that his favorite pastime is dancing alone Greek-style in a taverna because the bouzouki “makes my whole body awaken.”