Doorman to the Rich and Famous Retires : New York: During his 44 years working for two ritzy Fifth Avenue stores, serving celebrities became second nature. Now Pat Salvaggione is headed to California for a new life.

He was seen the other day walking arm in arm with Jacqueline Onassis. He’s friendly with Richard Gere and Cindy Crawford. And Barbra Streisand. And Mary Tyler Moore.

But don’t try to get any gossip from Pat Salvaggione. He won’t breathe a word about the famous pals he’s made during his 44 years as a doorman at two ritzy Fifth Avenue stores.

“I like the people. It keeps me going,” the 66-year-old Salvaggione said with a modest shrug. “The bigger they are, the nicer they are.”

“He is a person of renown,” agreed Stephen Elkin, president of Bergdorf Goodman, where Salvaggione worked his last day June 18 before retiring to California. The store toasted him with champagne at a retirement party.

Elkin said appreciative customers have invited Salvaggione, affectionately called “Pat the Doorman,” to their homes and their weddings.

Two days before his retirement, Salvaggione was seen with Jacqueline Onassis, “arm and arm, walking away, like they were friends,” said Sook Han, who works at the purse counter next to Salvaggione’s post.

The Bronx-born Salvaggione started as an elevator operator at Bonwit Teller before being promoted to doorman there in 1949.

He does agree to reveal the name of his first famous customer: “The Duchess of Windsor. I was goo-goo eyed.”

Salvaggione was wooed for 30 years by Bergdorf’s, but didn’t give in until 1979, when Bonwit’s Fifth Avenue store closed.

His biggest souvenir from his Bonwit days is the handle from its front door--Donald Trump gave it to him when the store was torn down.

Friends and neighbors pump Salvaggione for juicy details about his famous pals. But even his wife, Evelyn, hasn’t heard much.

“Once in a while, he’ll say, ‘I met so-and-so,’ ” she said. “He says they don’t come on as fancy. They’re real people.”

“We have a picture of Princess Margaret hanging on the wall of our recreation room,” she confided--then clammed up when her husband rolled his eyes.

“If I mention names and I miss one, somebody will be insulted,” Salvaggione explained about his reluctance to discuss his clients.

Salvaggione said he’ll miss New York. But he’ll undoubtedly visit soon.

It seems the owner of a certain Midtown hotel has invited him to visit anytime--for free.