amid all the betrayals, addictions, tears and turmoil, one
thing, at least, never changed on Beverly Hills, 90210: For 10
seasons Nat Bussichio was there behind the counter of the
Peach Pit, fl ipping mega burgers and lending a sympathetic
ear. Nat was “a good guy, always there to help out,” Joe E. Tata
said of his kindhearted alter ego, who opened his diner on
holidays to feed the homeless.
Always ready with a wisecrack, Nat told the gang he took
over his father’s diner after a bit-part fi lm career—at the age
of 10, he had his movie debut in a Humphrey Bogart fi lm, he
told Dylan and Brandon. In real life Pittsburgh-born Tata,
82, appeared as a character actor on such 1960s shows as
Lost in Space and Batman. Beginning in episode 3, Nat’s
retro ’50s diner became ground zero for drama: Brenda was
held at gunpoint at the Peach Pit, and the diner is where
Kelly OD’d on diet pills at her 18th-birthday party. Both
Steve and Brenda (as gum-popping “Laverne”) did short
stints taking orders. When Nat had a heart attack and nearly
lost his business in season 4, Dylan saved the Peach Pit by
becoming a partner. In season 7, Nat married an old fl ame,
and they had a son called Frankie.
By the show’s fi nale, he had become a surrogate dad to the
gang, lending support to Brandon after his folks moved to Hong
Kong and walking Donna down the aisle after her dad died.
Of -camera, “Joey Tata just made us laugh, nonstop,” Shan-
nen Doherty said on the Beverly Hills, 90210 10th-anniversary
reunion special in 2003. “He had an endless amount of energy.”(^)
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COUNTER CULTURE
“We have all our major conflicts there,” Jennie Garth once joked
of the Peach Pit, home away from home for the 90210 gang.