No flash in pan.

CELEBRITIES often divide photographers into two categories: necessary and evil. While pesky paparazzi fall into the later category, one of the necessary has been Alan Berliner, a former restaurateur now celebrating his 30th year as a Hollywood photographer.

In 1973, looking to escape the drudgery of running Berliner's, his family's downtown L.A. eatery, he signed up for a night photography course at Fairfax High School. At 41, he wasn't expecting it to lead to a second career snapping shots of Frank Sinatra, Michael Eisner, Gwyneth Paltrow and other members or Tinseltown's elite.

Photographs of a model he was dating led to Women's Wear Daily, which brought him on for freelance gigs. He moved into the celebrity realm when Paramount commissioned him for publicity shots.

His most memorable customer? Sinatra, who hired him for several assignments, including the last portrait the singer sat for, the cover of 1984's "L.A. is My Lady." Berliner managed to convince Sinatra to stand for 30 shots. "Frank said, 'If you didn't get the shot now, you never will,'" Berliner recalled.

These days, he leaves most of the work to his son, Alex, and a crew of seven full-time and freelance photographers, while managing a syndication firm that represents 15 photographers.

At a fundraiser held recently at L.A.'s Century Plaza hotel, where Gov. Gray Davis partied with Jack Nicholson and Bruce Willis "He looked like he was having fun then," said Berliner; "and he's probably having even more fun now."