A Home Away From Home : Ethnic music clubs draw expatriates longing for the songs and dances of their native lands.

Alex Tumanov lives in the United States now and is proud of it. He calls Boris Yeltsin “another Stalin” and cherishes the day he escaped the growing turmoil of his Ukrainian homeland.

But Tumanov has never abandoned his emotional ties to the culture he left behind. Four years after his arrival in Los Angeles, he still prefers a regular diet of Russian favorites: chicken Kiev, herring and, of course, vodka--and Russian music.

“This reminds me of my life back there,” said Tumanov, who lives in West Hollywood, as he watched a ballet performance at Moscow Nights restaurant in Studio City on a recent Saturday night. “We can’t forget our home.”

Neither can Hercules Gravanis, an independent contractor who left his native Greece in 1969 to “find prosperity.” Four nights a week, Gravanis stops by the Port of Athens in Studio City to dance to Greek music and hang out with Greek friends.

“Let me tell you something about Greeks,” said Gravanis, 46, of Sherman Oaks. “Greeks have to be with each other. If they’re not going to be with each other, they’re not going to be Greeks.”

Whatever the culture, the story is similar in ethnic music clubs across the San Fernando Valley, where largely assimilated immigrants flock to catch the sights and sounds of their beloved homelands and socialize with fellow expatriates. It’s a brief diversion from their never-ending adjustment to the United States, a chance to go home but come back by the end of the night. Almost every weekend, there are Valley clubs and restaurants offering authentic music from Germany, Iran, Ireland, the Balkans, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico--as well as Russia and Greece.

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Not every newcomer clings to the old sounds. The audiences at such places as Moscow Nights and Port of Athens help to illustrate a difference between the generations. Older immigrants--those 30 or over--tend to seek out fellow emigres, searching for safe, familiar sounds and faces amid the chaos and constant uncertainty of life in a still-strange land. The younger crowd isn’t swayed by the same immediate social preferences. They head to the nightclubs to meet Americans.

“Younger people are always the adventurers,” said Naomi Bishop, chairwoman of the anthropology department at Cal State Northridge. “They want to do new things. If you visited ethnic music clubs 100 years ago, it would’ve been the same thing, and if you look 100 years from now, it will be the same thing.”

Many immigrants, however, who have spent most of their lives in this country eventually gravitate back to the cherished traditions of their ancestors. Music becomes a convenient way to reconnect with the past.

Guillermo Gastelo, a native of Mexico, moved to the United States in 1964 at age 12. He quickly assimilated. But now, three decades later, he is rediscovering his roots.

“My wife and I are always trying to find out more about our culture,” said Gastelo, of Valencia.

Among other things, he and his wife are taking salsa lessons at Sportsmen’s Lodge in Studio City on Friday nights.

“Our family used to do salsa dancing before,” said his wife, Nancy Gastelo, who was born in the United States, “but we didn’t get the steps exactly right. We’d go to weddings and listen to the music, but it wasn’t the right way. Now we are learning to do it the right way.”

For others, born in the United States and with no family ties to the ethnic orientation of the clubs and restaurants they frequent, the music serves as entree to another culture. It also provides a fresh alternative to the usual assortment of rock, classical and jazz.

Piera Fumagalli, who also was at Sportsmen’s Lodge on a recent Friday night, said she goes to learn about other cultures.

“I started listening to Spanish music on the radio recently,” said Fumagalli. “I like the rhythms. I’m not here to meet people.”

The ethnic music options in the Valley include: Balkan music at Beograd Continental Cuisine in North Hollywood, Bolivian and Argentine performers at Norah’s Place in North Hollywood, German favorites at Hoppe’s Old Heidelberg in Van Nuys, salsa music at Sportsmen’s Lodge, Arab songs at the Middle East Connection in Burbank, and Persian music at Cabaret Tehran in Studio City.

Ethnic music, for many groups, is a natural background for special occasions because reminders of common heritage often bring families closer together. That was certainly the case several weeks ago when Morike Tumanov, Alex’s wife, came to Moscow Nights to celebrate her 35th birthday. For years, Tumanov had wondered if she would ever leave her home of Uzhgorod, a small city in Ukraine.

But she never relinquished her dream of living in America, no matter how bleak her chances seemed in the years before Gorbachev. As the Moscow Nights band played in the background, she reflected on the journey that is still difficult to believe.

“From the day we were born, we wanted to come here,” she said. “For so long, nobody could come, but then things opened up. It’s a miracle.”

The party brought out her closest friends and relatives, who all sat together at one of the restaurant’s long, rectangular tables. The club displays no obvious signs of its Russian orientation, except for the rows of vodka bottles behind the bar. Yet, once the lights dim and the entertainment begins, Moscow makes its official presence in Studio City.

The performance includes a violinist who plays the instrument on top of his head and behind his back, a husband-and-wife ballet team who worked professionally in Russia, and the house band, which plays all of the crowd’s favorites. The evening even presents a touch of multiethnic cabaret, as Canadian native Carmelina Rossi dons a black boa and sings slow, soothing Italian songs.

“Russians love Italian music for some reason,” said Rossi, whose parents grew up in Italy. “It’s similar to Russian music--romantic, melodic. Maybe it’s because a lot of Russians stop off in Italy before coming here.”

The Tumanov party was having a blast. Friends Mikhail and Judith Burekhovich sipped their vodka and saluted their fortune.

“We miss our parents and some friends, of course,” Judith Burekhovich said, “but this is what we always wanted.”

Life in the United States, however, has proved to be much more difficult than these emigres from the former Soviet Union ever imagined. They may not face long lines for food, but, accustomed to holding prestigious jobs as professionals in their homeland, many have had to scrape for any work they can get. Alex Tumanov worked as a bookkeeper for a respected bank in Ukraine. In Los Angeles, he drives a cab.

“We try to do our best here,” he said. “We don’t go out into the street and ask for money. It’s tough.”

That’s what makes a haven like Moscow Nights imperative. For a few hours, at least, the struggle to make it in the United States is put on hold. They are not judged by what work they do, and they don’t worry if they’ll be able to afford next month’s rent. Many basically camp out for the whole evening, arriving for dinner about 8 p.m. and staying until nearly midnight.

“This is how we do things,” Mikhail Burekhovich said. “We can stay as long as we want.”

A few miles away at the Port of Athens, the atmosphere is equally festive. Patrons stay for hours drinking and dancing to the sounds of the culture they will probably always embrace.

There are reminders of Greece everywhere, from the black-and-white photographs of Athens decorating the walls to the sculpture of Zeus sitting behind the bar counter.

On every night except Monday, the restaurant offers five singers, the house band and a belly dancer, all of whom perform in two separate shows.

The first show, which begins at 9 p.m., is subdued. The crowd applauds, but many are too busy eating to become too rowdy. The second show, which starts about 11 p.m., is another matter. People shower the performers with dollar bills and pack the dance floor, swaying to their favorite Greek songs. At one recent performance, a customer stuck at least 50 one-dollar bills into a dancer’s outfit.

“Yes, it can get crazy around here,” said owner Georgia Christopher, a Van Nuys High School graduate who purchased the restaurant with her Greek husband in 1985.

The Port of Athens even has someone who sounds like Elvis. He doesn’t look like him, but he sure can do the voice.

“I don’t impersonate him,” Marco Kaprielian insisted. “I sing his songs.” His repertoire includes “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Love Me Tender” and “It’s Now or Never.”

Christopher said the restaurant’s regular clientele is diverse.

“We get all kinds of people here,” she said. “Upper class, middle class, lawyers, mechanics. We get Greeks who come from the islands, Greeks who come from the villages. They don’t want to lose their identity.”

Despite the Elvis sound-alike, Greeks show up primarily to hear Greek music. Like the Russians, they are scattered throughout Los Angeles without the strong institutions, such as the community centers and the church, to bind them as they did back home.

“That’s the problem in Los Angeles,” Christopher said. “It’s not like Detroit or Chicago or New York, where people live in neighborhoods close to each other. There are over 100,000 Greeks in Los Angeles County, and they live everywhere.”

Music also serves as a bridge to peace--or at least to peaceful coexistence in Los Angeles--between Middle Eastern nationalities who have been battlefield opponents for centuries. In a sense, they feel closer to people from their native region, even if they are traditional rivals, than to Americans who have never known that world.

“We’re not dealing with politics over here,” Christopher said. “They are in a happy setting listening to music. They don’t want to fight.”

Nagib Azar, who emigrated to the United States from Lebanon in the mid-1980s, said it’s easy to leave past animosities behind. Azar is one of the Arabs who frequent the place; besides Greek music, the club presents an assortment of Armenian and Arab songs.

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“The music allows everyone to just have a good time,” Azar said. “The people that leave the countries are the good people who didn’t want to stay and fight anymore.”

Israeli Moca Monis, the drummer in the house band, prefers the same nonpolitical approach.

“We’re a family here,” said Monis, who arrived in the United States in 1970. “We don’t care where you are from.”

Hercules Gravanis, who visits Greece at least twice a year, said it would be difficult to maintain his cultural identity without the music. Gravanis is a gregarious sort, fraternizing with everyone in sight and giving a solo performance on the dance floor without the slightest hesitation.

“It represents so much history,” he said. “It’s a way of life. See all those people over here? They are American citizens now, but they have to spend nights like this in the old culture. They would be dead without that.”

Night Spots

Moscow Nights, 11345 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Russian music and ballet from 9 to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 7:30 to 9 p.m. Sundays. Call (818) 980-8854.

Norah’s Place, 5667 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood. Bolivian and Argentine music from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Call (818) 980-6900.

Cabaret Tehran, 12229 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Persian music from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Call (818) 985-5800.

Port of Athens, 12430 Riverside Drive, Studio City. Greek, Arabic and Armenian music from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night except Mondays. Call (818) 508-9486.

Sportsmen’s Lodge, 12825 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Salsa music from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. Fridays. Call (818) 984-0202.

La Va Lee, 12514 Ventura Blvd., Studio City. Brazilian jazz and Latin music from 9 p.m. to midnight Fridays and Saturdays. Call (818) 980-8158.

Middle East Connection, 916 W. Burbank Blvd., Burbank. 9 p.m. to midnight Wednesdays. Call (818) 843-8339.

Beograd Continental Cuisine, 10530 Magnolia Blvd., North Hollywood. Balkan music from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Call (818) 766-8689.

Hoppe’s Old Heidelberg, 13726 Oxnard St., Van Nuys. German music from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays. Call (818) 781-9396.

The Great Greek, 13362 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks. Greek music from 7 to 11 p.m. nightly. Call (818) 905-5250.

Ireland’s 32, 13721 Burbank Blvd., Van Nuys. Irish music from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Call (818) 785-4031.