‘89 Encores : On this last day of the year, and of the 1980s, the View staff pays a return visit to some of the people who made news in 1989. : Busy Trend-Setter

As usual, Mario Tamayo is setting trends among the trendy, this time with the opening of a new supper club in the mid-Wilshire district. His new Atlas Bar & Grill already has hosted several high-profile private parties--including a bash by Malcolm Forbes for the new magazine Egg--even though it doesn’t officially open until Jan. 1. “It’s either the new restaurant for the new decade, or the new decade for the new restaurant,” Tamayo says. “I’m not sure which.”

Overall, it’s been a busy year for Tamayo and his many enterprises. Last April, bored with what he deemed a quiet social season, he started the short-lived Card Club, a “little doo-dah” open on Tuesday nights inside a Guatemalan disco above a Chinese restaurant in Hollywood. As many as 500 people would show up, he says, including Julie Brown, Katey Sagal, Timothy Leary and other regulars of the L.A. club scene. “I had a great time,” says Tamayo, who nevertheless closed the Card Club after only one month.

In June, the 31-year-old entrepreneur sold his Melrose-area Cha Cha Cha restaurant to his partner, chef Toribio Prado, for “more peace of mind,” and installed new chef David Gallegos at his other restaurant, Cafe Mambo. Meanwhile, Tamayo’s clothing store, Modern Objects, and its designs by Jef Huereque were featured in Us, Elle and MovieLine, as well as on Adam Ant’s album cover.

But Tamayo was still restless and decided he needed a “bigger stage” for his activities. After renting the former LA Ole restaurant space in the Wiltern Theater complex, he hired residential designer Ron Meyers and executive chef Victoria Granof, formerly of Trumps, City and Angeli restaurants, to plan the Atlas Bar & Grill. At a time when several L.A. clubs have closed, Tamayo is typically optimistic about the new restaurant’s chances. “It will have a clubby feeling, but our No. 1 priority is the food,” he says, noting the menu will be so-called “global cuisine.”

In all, the venture is not only his most ambitious but also his most costly--$500,000 in start-up costs. “But considering it’s for a restaurant this big, that’s nothing,” Tamayo explains. “And the investors I chose weren’t the money people, but young and up-and-coming friends who saw this as a great chance to invest in something they were going to enjoy.”