Drawing on Spirit of Tatou

Tatou will soon be putting its mark on the Century City space now occupied by Tripp’s.

The Beverly Hills cabaret / restaurant / nightclub will “move the spirit of Tatou but not the name” to the new location this spring, said the club’s creative director Rudolf. The new venue, which will also be owned by Mark Fleischman, will be called the Century Club. Tatou’s current location on Beverly Drive will remain open as a dance club with the same owners and management.

The new space will have three restaurants, including a 400-seat main dining room that will feature live entertainment, much as the current locale does.

“This is something clubs have to do to stay fresh,” said Rudolf. “There were many, many people bidding on the Tripp’s space. They all wanted to open something that would be competition to Tatou. So now we have the space and we’re our own competition.”

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Thin Ice: Tonya Harding goes before movie cameras again today.

She’ll be shooting additional footage in Portland for “Breakaway,” the low-budget action film in which she has a small, highly publicized part.

The skater, infamous for her involvement in the knee-knocking of Nancy Kerrigan, plays a waitress who ends up with Mafia money.

Harding will be doing scenes involving skating, arguing with a boyfriend about being “two-timed,” and possibly some fisticuffs, because, said director Sean Dash, “she’s a natural fighter.”

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Rib du Jour: The exotic, nouveau-Polynesian building that once housed Kelbo’s in West L.A. is in for a big change from its signature Hawaiian-style spare ribs and mai tai cocktails.

On Jan. 20, new management will open Fantasy Island on the site. A spokesperson describes this as “an adult cabaret with dinner and entertainment, some of it topless, some of it not.”

In a sense, a tradition carries on: Patrons will still be seeing ribs at what was once Kelbo’s.