152 THE ADVOCATE
VOL. 80 PART 1 JANUARY 2022
Hasan Alam was appointed to the Multicultural Advisory Council for a twoyear
term.
In the course of determining, in 1986, that Donald J. Trump (“a person of
renown in the real estate field”) could not use the name “Trump’s Palace”
for a casino in Atlantic City when Caesars Palace was already established in
Las Vegas and had an offshoot in Atlantic City as well, the United States District
Court of the District of New Jersey in Trump v. Caesars World, Inc., 645
F. Supp. 1015 discussed various pertinent facts. After describing Caesars
Palace in Las Vegas as a venue for the likes of “Diana Ross, Joan Rivers, Julio
Iglesias and The Pointer Sisters” as well as “sporting events such as boxing
bouts and tennis matches with such stars as Muhammed Ali and John
McEnroe”, the court discussed, in rather startling terms, elements of the
Caesars Palaces décor:
The decor of Caesars Palace is informed by a so-called “Greco-Roman”
theme. The name Caesars Palace and other titles and prominent words
are often written in letters having a peculiar chiseled block style which is
supposed to be suggestive of Roman writing. Areas in the complex are
given names associated with ancient Rome. The logo on the letterhead
pictures a slave girl feeding grapes to a reclining emperor. The statues
placed at strategic locations are reproductions of such works as Winged
Victory of Samothrace. There was some confusion in the testimony
whether one of the statues represented Julius Caesar, Caesar Augustus or
Marcus Aurelius, but while Nero or Caligula might better represent the
spirit of the enterprise, Caesar, Caesar Augustus and Marcus Aurelius are
each indisputably Roman.
At times Caesars Palace must stretch a bit to maintain its Roman theme.
One of its statues is a reproduction of Michelangelo’s David, but this perhaps
can be justified on the basis that the Roman Empire flourished at
some mid-point between young David’s slaying of Goliath in the Valley of
Elah, and Michelangelo’s sculpting his statue in the 16th Century. Harder
to conceptualize is the linkage of the Chinese restaurant to ancient Rome.
Caesars’ Howard Klein made a valiant effort, testifying, “We have a story
in the menu as to the connection, the ancient connection between trade
between China and the Roman Empire utilizing Marco Polo as the interlock.”
… No matter that the interlock Marco Polo and his uncle commenced
their journey from Venice to China 800 years after the fall of the
Western Roman Empire.
Caesars Atlantic City attempted to benefit from the fame of Caesars Palace,
among other things showing sporting events originating at Caesars Palace
on closed-circuit TV and using “advertisements for Caesars Atlantic City
featuring comedian Buddy Hackett as Caesar in a palace, and a Roman charioteer
to bring patrons to Caesars”. Turning to Trump, and reflecting that
little has changed over the years, the court noted that he had “frequently