Michael’s, the California restaurant transplant and magnet for boldface names, is marking 35 years in New York. An estimated 300 or so of those hotshots will be on hand to raise a glass and nibble hors d’oeuvres on Nov. 13 to celebrate. Michael McCartycombonanza casino, the vivacious party-loving host, will be in the thick of it.

As for the original in Santa Monica, Calif., it’s going on 45 years and counting. “Michael genuinely loves people,” said Jonathan Waxman, who became executive chef of the Santa Monica restaurant soon after it opened. “It’s a real passion.”

It still is. Mr. McCarty, the founder and owner with his wife, Kim McCarty, won’t call it a day. At 71, his shoulder-length bob is grayer, his blazers and linen trousers a larger size. But when he’s in his restaurant on either coast, which is often, he’ll be working the room, greeting figures in publishing, media, art and real estate with a smile and boundless enthusiasm in New York, and Hollywood heavy-hitters in Santa Monica.

“When we opened in Santa Monica everyone was there: Lillian Hellman, Ronald Reagan, Mel Brooks, Bruce Paltrow, amazing people,” Mr. Waxman said. “It was the greatest time of my life.” Mr. Waxman, who went on to open Jams in New York in 1984, bringing California style to the city’s restaurant scene, and even tearing a page from Mr. McCarty’s playbook with art by Frank Stella, among others, on the walls. He said that Michael’s in New York was different from its California parent, drawing more of a publishing and media crowd, mostly for lunch.

The original Michael’s was innovative. Mr. McCarty, then a brash young 20-something with chef’s training in Paris, organized a team of other American chefs, also in their 20s, including Mr. Waxman, Ken Frank, Nancy Silverton, Jimmy Brinkley, Mark Peel, Roy Yamaguchi and also Sally Clarke, who is English, to get his restaurant ambition off the ground. He developed the menus with the chefs. The setting was light, airy, minimalist and decorated with contemporary art, often by customers like David Hockney and Richard Diebenkorn. The dining room contrasted heavily upholstered Los Angeles restaurants like Scandia and Chasens.

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