Walls of Fame

      In the morning before the start of business, an interesting aroma pervades the Palm Restaurant, which is a steak-and-lobster house in The Forum Shops at Caesars.
      It's not the fragrance of food. It's glue.
      Morning is when Palm employees paste new pictures on the walls of the restaurant. All 15 Palm locations across the country are known for their decor, which consists primarily of hand-drawn caricatures.
      "It does smell," admits Kenny Horowitz, an assistant manager at the Las Vegas Palm. The smell comes from the combination of parchment glue on the back of each drawing and a coat of gloss over the front to protect the image.
      By lunch time, when the Palm opens its doors, those fumes are long gone. Left are the likenesses that patrons can gaze at during a lull in their meal.
      "I know the question you're going to ask me: `How do I get on the wall?' " Horowitz says.
      "Well, money helps," is server David Carusoe's wisecrack answer when customers inquire.
      The more official answer, according to Horowitz, is, "If you're a regular, someone who's part of the `family.' "
      Defense attorney Oscar Goodman is part of he family.
      So is personal-injury attorney Ed Bernstein.
      So is retired Clark County Sheriff John Moran.
      So is singer emeritus Joe Williams.
      So is Sue Lowden, the casino executive and ex-legislator, ex-TV anchor.
      So are former county commissioners Don Schlesinger and Paul Christensen, whose personalities didn't mesh well. Both were turned out of office by voters during re-election bids. (At the Palm, their visages hang almost side by side.)
      So is attorney Von Heinz, who does corporate litigation, and estimates he eats at the Palm at least three times a week.
      Heinz even got to choose where his picture was placed -- on a wall visible from the booth section where he always asked to be seated. His pic is well-illuminated by the glow from a nearby light fixture, right above a picture of actress Shirley MacLaine.
      Does having one's picture on the wall at the Palm bring people-watching to a new level? After all, a person can be "seen" without even being present.
      Heinz laughs, but answers in a tone that doesn't reveal whether he's jesting or in earnest:
      "I actually look at it from the perspective it places an expectation of being there often, so you can continue to deserve the privilege" of being on the wall.
      Despite Heinz's show of fear of being removed, the Palm's policy is never to take down a picture. Except in the case of divorce.
      "It's whoever gets here first" to request the other's picture come down, Horowitz explains. In some cases, the parties choose to keep both pictures up, but have the names rewritten separately.
      The tradition of putting caricatures up began in the 1920s, when the original Palm Restaurant -- still in business at the same location -- opened in New York on Second Avenue, in a newspaper district.
      Journalists frequented the place, which was founded by two Italian-born entrepreneurs, John Ganzi and Pio Bozzi, whose descendants still own all the Palm locations.
      "They didn't have enough money to decorate," says Horowitz, reciting corporate history. But, in exchange for free food, some of the newspapers' artists started sketching on the walls. Faces of public officials and celebrities went up. Eventually the practice became institutionalized.
      What started as a humble eatery evolved into a popular spot for high society. As Horowitz puts it, "The Palm became this hangout." Ditto for the Palm restaurants started in other cities.
      "At the L.A. Palm they're on the ceiling" because wall space ran out, says Horowitz, referring to the ubiquitous drawings, not the patrons.
      Every new Palm starts out with what Horowitz calls a "core collection" of drawings. Some are reproductions of drawings at the original Palm -- whose walls are insured by Lloyds of London for a hefty sum, Horowitz adds.
      Other core drawings are of public figures in the restaurant's locale. "The mayor'd go up, sports figures of a town," Horowitz says.
      Once a restaurant is launched, faces are continually added to the wall. Horowitz estimates that the Las Vegas Palm, 3500 Las Vegas Blvd. South, adds 15 to 25 each month. Artist Howard Perlin does all the drawings, in New York, for the Las Vegas Palm -- and sends them out.
      Because of Las Vegas' entertainment industry, the local Palm also has drawings of performers who don't live here, but have been through town.
      Sharon Stone, for example, ate at the Palm while filming "Casino."
      "Henry Winkler just signed his," Horowitz says. When the actor -- in town on personal business -- autographed it, he added a line, "I'm on the wall. This is so great!"
      According to Horowitz, management goes out of its way to enable those pictured to autograph their drawings. "We have ladders. ... We'll move a table that's eating dinner" to clear a space by the drawing involved.
      "Power locals" is one way that some have categorized the faces on the walls, Horowitz admits.
      On the other hand, many faces aren't recognized by the general public. There's even one showing two black dogs, labeled Bearon Jacob and Naughty Jezebel -- who are the pets of a regular patron.
      Nonlocals also occasionally get on the walls. Alan and Silvie Berman, for example, live in Los Angeles but visit Las Vegas often. When they do, they dine at the Palm. Horowitz admits that in the Bermans' case, he surreptitiously used the photograph they had included in a Christmas card to order up a caricature.
      Another drawing is dedicated to Levitan, an out-of-town business that sends a large delegation to attend annual trade shows for the menswear and shoe industries. "They're conventioneers that will come to town for six days, and come here six nights," Horowitz explains.
      There are some in-house faces on the walls, too. The Palm's first management team is depicted in Roman garb over one of the restaurant's main portals. Two reps from Southern Nevada Wine & Spirits -- a vendor to the Palm -- are memorialized as "the Booze Brothers." Even the serving staff is present, in a large mural in the restaurant's room for private parties.
      Eric Savage, a local businessman and Palm regular, belongs to a super elite: those who have been invited to have their picture put up, but declined.
      Savage gives us the skinny on his contrary response: He had consented to have his picture posted at the Washington, D.C., Palm, but was vexed when the artist "got the idea I had a fat head. I had to look at it every time I went in."
      Lest the onlooker forget, the Palm Restaurant actually serves food, too. It's known for its large meat portions and hefty prices. The lunch menu offers a selection of prix fixe entrees for $14.50. The dinner menu touts a $35 porterhouse steak, a $29 veal chop and a $27 prime rib. Pricing varies daily for the jumbo Maine lobster -- guaranteed to weigh a minimum of 3 pounds.
      The servers are personable and allowed to use discretion. Carusoe, a 5-year Palm veteran, explains how the night before a first-time patron kept asking if he could take home Carusoe's distinctive white-linen server jacket.
      "I told him he'd have to work for it," Carusoe recalls.
      So Carusoe took off the jacket and sat down. He had the man serve him a drink, then told him to transport his own dinner from the kitchen to the table. The guy got the jacket.
      "We can `read' people," Horowitz says. "We know who you are. If you're having a bad day, we're going to turn it into a good day."