Looking back at 50 years of Hard Rock Cafe

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Editor’s Note – The Monthly Ticket is CNN’s travel series that shines a light on the most fascinating topics in the world of travel. In August, we’re going back in time to revisit some great retro travel experiences.

(CNN) — Before it became a global chain and a globally recognized brand, Hard Rock Cafe was a restaurant in London.

Founded by two American businessmen, Peter Morton and Isaac Tiggert, it opened its doors in 1971.

London had no shortage of restaurants or museums. But Hard Rock’s brilliance was in combining the two.

In the year In the 1960s, “Swinging London” was the coolest city in the world, so anything that happened there – especially if it was related to the music scene – quickly made headlines around the world.

If the American-conceived British restaurant seems like a strange concept, Morton and Tiggert lean on their background rather than run away from it.

Hard rock refers to America after World War II. The menu consisted of burgers, fries and milkshakes, while the color scheme was red and white.

It was an allusion to the idealistic, glitzy America seen in shows like “Good Days” more in pop culture than in real life.

But it worked.

Half a century later, the Hard Rock Cafe brand is bigger than restaurants and hotels.

Depending on who you ask, it’s either a fun nirvana for music lovers or a corny restaurant selling products. Either way, the brand has securely established its legacy.

Aerosmith presents Les Paul with a guitar birthday cake at Hard Rock in New York City.

Ed Bailey/AP

Putting “rock” in hard rock

Every Hard Rock is full of musical memorabilia, many of which are given by the stars themselves.

As legend has it, Eric Clapton, a regular at the London Outpost, donated one of his Fender guitars and asked the staff to hang it on the wall where he liked to sit. Unsurprisingly, the Who’s Pete Townshend also donated one of his guitars.

Merchandise was not just on the walls, but became the centerpiece of the brand. After all, one can only eat a cheeseburger at a time, but can buy a whole souvenir at a time.

As Hard Rock says, The London restaurant agreed to sponsor a local football team and put their logo on the team’s jersey. After that, the idea of formal shirts was born and the first ones went on sale in 1974.

It took a full decade for the restaurant to expand internationally. The first Los Angeles outlet in the US opened in 1982. Tokyo, Paris, Athens, Hong Kong, New York City and more followed.

Many of the Hard Rock Cafes also had stages where local and international musicians played.

The best practices are often expanded to open new branches.

Jazz legend B.B. King inaugurated Hard Rock Beijing in 1994 when Paul and Linda McCartney’s band Wings were tapped to play on opening night in London’s West End.

Chinese soldiers marched on hard rock Beijing in the 1990s.

Greg Baker/AP

However, famous rock stars aren’t the only ones popping up at restaurants and casinos.

For Jessie Druckman, who has worked at Hard Rock Cafe Surfers Paradise on Australia’s Gold Coast region for two decades, the chance to engage diners in conversation — from celebrities to regulars — is one of the most enjoyable parts of the job. .

“I try to treat every customer equally,” he says. “One time there was this older woman who was eating alone and I started talking to her. She saw the Beatles live in England when she was 17.”

Famous clients he did his best to treat as normal people included Vince Neil, Jimmy Barnes and Gene Simon.

Now, hard rock celebrity collaborators aren’t just rock fans.

In the year In 2021, football icon Lionel Messi has signed on as a global brand ambassador. Menus added “Messy Burger” in his honor.

Funk band The Bar-Keys performs at the 2014 Hard Rock Memphis.

Gareth Patterson / Vision for Hard Rock International / AP

The rise of superfans

One day Lou Nuccio traveled with his father from his hometown of Bayonne, New Jersey to New York City for lunch.

“I ate at this crazy place with my dad. They had a Cadillac on the wall and it was really cool,” he says.

That crazy place was the Hard Rock Cafe, located on 57th Street in downtown Manhattan.

From then on, Nuccio was hooked. In his job at a logistics company, he noticed Hard Rocks everywhere he traveled. At each, the brand will pick up some commemorative pin for sale. He said he has about 6,500 of them now.

However, the sense of fun and community that Nuccio found at Hard Rock didn’t extend beyond the restaurants themselves until the advent of social media.

Nuccio created a Facebook page, HRC Worldwide Community. On it, he shared personal images and reviews of various posts he visited, information about upcoming events. He now has over 10,000 followers from around the world.

“Society is made up of collectors and travelers,” he says. “I’m both. But[collectors]are the people who really fuel the engine. The big chapter is something people love. When you visit, you have a tour[tracker]and it takes you in, and if you reach a chapter, you get a special pin. If you visit 25 cafes, you get a milestone.”

In addition to pins, many fans collect shooting glasses and t-shirts.

They organize swaps where some of the biggest hard rock super fans come and meet each other. Nuccio also travels to many of them and documents them on his website, tagging his fellow collectors in photos.

Being a mega-fan, especially someone with a large following online, has its perks. On a recent trip to London, Nuccio visited the basement of the “Rock Shop,” where cream-of-the-crop items like one of John Lennon’s favorite army jackets are kept.

Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney’s band Wing played at a London cafe in the 80s.

Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

After the lights go out

Since 1971, the life of the first creators has gone in different directions. In the year In 1979, they fell out and split the brand between them, with each founder staking claim to certain parts of the world where New Hard Rocks could own and operate.

Regarding the feud, Tigrett told Texas Monthly in 1987 that Morton was “absolutely cash-oriented” and preferred to work on the social side of the brand. But Morton told the magazine, “I’m just minding my own business.”

Finally, in 2007, Morton and Tigrett sold the company to the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The tribe now operates more than 180 Hard Rock restaurants, cafes, hotels and casinos.

Morton settled in Los Angeles, where he became a film producer. His son, Harry Morton, opened a Mexican restaurant chain called Pink Taco. He owned it until his death in 2019 at the age of 38.

Meanwhile, Tigrett is away from the spotlight. After the death of his wife, Mo Starkey — who was previously married to Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and whom Tigreat once called “the last set.” — spent time in India and is reported to be a devotee of the late Guru Sathya Sai Baba.

He is a board member of the Divine Will Foundation. According to the foundation’s website, it supports hospitals and food programs in India, the US and elsewhere.

Although Seminole Gaming representatives declined an interview request from CNN, the brand’s website says it has several Hard Rocks in China.

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