TIME OUT / SOCIAL CLIMES : Good Luck Getting a Ticket to <i> This</i> Party

Monday, the world will descend upon Morton’s restaurant.

It’s the site of the Vanity Fair/Steve Tisch Academy Awards party, which in its second year is already considered the hottest private party ticket of the night. It’s an A+ list celebfest that draws hordes of fans, paparazzi, TV crews and police to Robertson and Melrose.

Making sure the event is as smooth as the satin on a starlet’s gown will be General Manager Pam Morton, twin sister of restaurant owner Peter Morton and a third-generation restaurateur.

On a recent weekday afternoon she eases into a chair in the lobby bar of the Four Seasons hotel, looking grateful for a chance to sit down.

“I don’t know where the day goes,” Morton says, shaking her head.

For this year’s Oscar party, “We’re going to be re-creating much of what we did last year, but even better,” she says. Planning--from the menu to the guest list to the security--started in January.

“This party is quite special,” she says. “It certainly signifies what Hollywood is all about. When I think of everything we’ve done, it certainly is one of the high points.”

Last year’s fete lured Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, Whitney Houston, Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh, Ralph Fiennes, Claudia Schiffer and David Copperfield, Michael Stipe, Oliver Stone and Marisa Tomei.

The evening produced some memorable scenes: Conde Nast Chairman S.I. Newhouse chatting up cartoonishly zaftig model/actress Anna Nicole Smith; Annie Liebovitz snapping random crowd shots; Nancy Kerrigan being eyeballed by everyone.

This year, Morton says, the guest list will change, as Hollywood’s players do every year. The most popular guest might prove to be Vanity Fair writer Dominick Dunne, who retains a permanent seat at the O.J. Simpson trial.

Other memorable events that have taken place at the restaurant, Morton says, include the surprise 50th-birthday party that super-agent Michael Ovitz threw for Disney chief Michael Eisner three years ago and a lunch last year for Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

“That was extraordinary,” Morton recalls. “The amount of security was truly amazing. We had SWAT teams on the roof. They had to do a bomb check of the restaurant and a security check on every individual who worked here. Then they couldn’t decide whether to have the big metal detectors inside or outside the restaurant.”

Nothing that dramatic is planned for this year’s Oscar night, although Morton is prepared for the requisite gate-crashers.

She’s certainly used to dealing with an onslaught of stars. Morton’s, for those L.A. neophytes unfamiliar with eateries of the rich and famous, is one of the entertainment industry’s favorite schmooze-and-be-schmoozed scenes. Monday nights are legendary, with studio heads, agents and stars chowing down on Caesar salad and free-range chicken while making deals and talking box office grosses.

The ultra-glam scene contrasts with the fact that running a restaurant--even Morton’s--is tough.

“It’s a lot of hard work and constant problems,” Morton says, tucking away a stray strand of black hair. “It’s like running a big house with a big staff. The other night the emergency bar broke on the back door, and I was awakened in the middle of the night by someone at the restaurant because they couldn’t lock up.

“But at the same time,” she says the business “can be very gratifying if you’re trying to make a place very comfortable and inviting and someone has really enjoyed their meal.”

A typical day begins at 8:30 a.m., when Morton looks over the receipts from the previous night, checks the wine and liquor inventory and helps her assistant answer the phones.

She huddles with the chef about the day’s specials, then works the door as the lunch crowd begins to filter in about noon. After lunch it’s back to her office, where more paperwork awaits. The rest of the afternoon may be taken up with planning private parties at the restaurant or tracking down special wine stocks from her various sources. Days are more hectic now that the restaurant has moved to larger quarters, across the street from its old location, and has started serving lunch.

Not every evening is spent at the restaurant, enabling her to spend more time with her 7-year-old daughter, Isabella. Single mother Morton is grateful for the flexible hours.

“Somebody the other day was wondering how I juggle it all--the business, taking care of my daughter. This isn’t a strict office environment. I can take her to school every day and I pick her up every day. Yesterday, after school she came back to the restaurant with me and sat by the computer in my office while I was doing things.”

But Morton is adamant about Isabella not becoming a fourth-generation restaurateur.

“I would love for her to be a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a scientist, anything but the restaurant business. It’s very time-consuming, it’s a lot of your time, and sometimes you’re only as good as your last meal.”

Morton counteracts burnout with trips (she’ll be going to Hawaii with Isabella later this spring), tennis and reading in bed. Sometimes she forgets the problems of the day just driving down the street.

“I love driving down Beverly Boulevard to the Music Center at night. I live near work, my daughter’s school is five minutes away, my whole environment seems to be there. So it’s wonderful--I feel like I’m getting back in touch with what Los Angeles really is.”