Jimmy McShane is one cool cat, man. When you’ve hung out with as many legends as he has, that legendary vibe rubs off on you after awhile.

Jimmy Mac’s is located at 1468 N. Coast Hwy. 101 in Leucadia (formerly Angelina’s Pizza). At the new namesake restaurant, open only since the first week of October, you’ll find copies of The Enquirer and The Globe on one of the outside tables — but Jimmy could tell you true-life celebrity stories all day long, from his own firsthand experience. The walls are lined with photos and posters of the rich and infamous, going back to the 1960s when he first started making the scene.

Out of the Navy and back from Vietnam in 1967, Jimmy started out in the rock-and-roll biz as a promoter/theatre manager in New York City.

“We used to do shows like Humble Pie, Savoy Brown and Fleetwood Mac — we’d do four shows with three groups, for two nights at $13,000 for the whole package, for all the groups. We used to charge $4.50 for tickets,” Jimmy recalls.

From Woodstock to Flushing Meadows to Watkins Glen, Jimmy knew them all, including Pink Floyd, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin and the Doors, just to name a few. If you stop by the restaurant, you might find him in a Grateful Dead T-shirt with matching wristwatch and his white apron.

After rock-and-roll, there was a long stint in several posh, high-end resorts and country clubs including the exclusive Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, where he maitre d’ for Richard Nixon and his cronies, spending winters in the warm Florida sun.

In the Northeast, he had other top-drawer assignments at the West Side Tennis Club in Forest Hills, N.Y. and the Milford Yacht Club in Conn. He used to cater Nixon confidant BeBe Rebozzo’s Super Bowl parties and for the Rockefellers at their mansion in Tarrytown.

During the 1980s, Jimmy found himself in Palm Springs where he worked as maitre d’hotel at world-famous Melvyn’s Restaurant at the Ingleside Inn. There, his clientele included Marlon Brando, Liberace, Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Goldie Hawn, and not-yet Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“Everybody used to go to Melvyn’s because it was cool,” he recalls.

Following was a 10-year gig as maitre d’ at Sonny Bono’s restaurant. Relocating to San Diego in 1995, Jimmy had another long engagement as maitre d’ at Scalini in Del Mar; he’s still popular with the Ranch Santa Fe crowd.

After a long, colorful career, Jimmy thought opening up a pizza, pasta and burger joint by the beach just seemed like the right thing to do — to do something different.

He does all the cooking himself and laughs when he says, “I’ve been stealing recipes my whole life, like a bad comedian steals jokes.”

He makes all his own sauces and a homemade Caesar salad dressing that is out-of-this-world ($8.99 with chicken). The house specialty is stuffed eggplant with basmati rice, mushrooms, bell pepper and rapini, topped with mozzarella ($9.99).

The pasta menu is simple; penne, cappelini, fettuccini or gnocchi served with your choice of three classic sauces — Alfredo, meat or marinara ($7.99 to $9.99). And there is pizza-by-the-slice ($1.99 to $2.99) or a whole pie, with “the works” ($19.99).

For something really unique, try the JMac dog; a quarter-pound all-beef hotdog poached in Guinness, deep-fried and topped with sauerkraut ($3.79).

Whatever you order, do not miss the homemade tiramisu ($3.99) with imported ladyfingers soaked in dark espresso and a thick layer of mascarpone cheese and cream cheese, smoothly blended. Irresistible!

Jimmy wants to start catering soon and says he’s ready for anything. Customers can call and he can make whatever they want.

When he gets his beer and wine license, he’ll pull out an old deli case and put in a small wine bar. He’s thinking about offering half-bottles of Opus with that deep-fried Guinness dog; a little crazy, man, but just like Jimmy — so way-cool.

Contact Jimmy Macs at (760) 632- JMAC (5622).