When Cuban immigrants Elias and Marta Sanchez took over Tania’s in 1976, they turned a small restaurant into a hotbed of Chicago’s Latin music scene for 22 years. As they transformed the 10,000-feet business into a community center, the Sanchezes hosted late-night salsa dancing alongside Latinx social, political and cultural organizations as well as families’ special occasions. Their devotion to the local community, and the neighborhood’s response, helped them overcome the devastation of a 1983 fire. The city’s Cuban baseball players were also known to be regulars. Some of the internationally known Latin musicians who stopped by to visit, dance and eat included Celia Cruz, Arturo Sandoval and Gloria Estefan. Locals and visitors also devoured Taina’s Cuban cuisine. As the Logan Square neighborhood’s Cuban population dispersed, the Sanchez family also moved on to other businesses and presented its final show on New Year’s Eve, 1998.

– A.C. 

Caption: Former location of Taina's.