Today is the fortieth anniversary of the Hard Rock Cafe.
On June 14th, 1971 in London, England, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton opened up a cafe serving American food with a rock-n-roll sensibility. One day Hard Rock fan Eric Clapton gave Tigrett a guitar. When Tigrett told him that he didn't play guitar, Clapton said he should hang it on the wall. When Pete Townsend found out about it, he wanted his guitar hanging on the wall too. Thus began the tradition of adorning Hard Rocks with rock-n-roll memorabilia, turning them into mini museums with some of the most astounding rock artifacts on the planet.
With the sole exception of Apple (and possibly Sony), I can't think of a company which has had more of an effect on my life than the Hard Rock Cafe. Since 1990 I've been to 137 properties around the world. Many of those places I would have never visited if not for the Hard Rock Cafe. In addition to encouraging me to see the world, it was the Hard Rock which first got me to share my life online. It was also the Hard Rock which is responsible for Lil' Dave and Bad Monkey coming into being...
As if that weren't enough, I've met dozens of fellow Hard Rock fans from around the globe who have become my friends.
To say I owe a lot to the Hard Rock Cafe is a bit of an understatement. I quite honestly don't know what my life would be like today without the place.
Undoubtedly it would be a lot less interesting.
So happiest of anniversaries and many thanks to the Hard Rock Cafe!
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Rock on!
Happy Anniversary!
And thanks for dragging your little brother along to a few of those including the London one. I am sure I would have not seen a few of those countries if it had not been for you. Thanks!
I think you might have answered this already in a previous post, but my memory ain’t what it used to be, so: what Hard Rock properties are you most looking forward to visiting next? Say a top five.
I actually had to put some thought into this, as I couldn’t decide on five off the top of my head! Here we go…
• Sydney. The original cafe closed, but a new one is due to open soon. I’ve never been to Australia, and am dying to go. This would be the perfect excuse.
• Mumbai. There are five Hard Rocks in India. Visiting all of them would be a dream come true.
• Rio de Janeiro. Never been to South America either, and have long wanted to visit Rio. Relatively neary cafes in Buenos Aires and Belo Horizonte would be icing on the cake.
• Krakow. I so thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Warsaw that I’d go back to Poland in a heartbeat.
• Phuket. No country changed my life more than Thailand. I would love to visit Phuket again, then visit the cafe in Penang and the hotel in Pattya.
i never quite understood the draw of hard rocks, but have developed quite an appreciation of them due completely to you.
happy birthday, hard rock!
This is inspiring! I’ve only been to, like, 5 or so. I did sit next to Wynonna Judd at the Nashville one in high school. That was cool.
Wow… 40 years is a long time (and you got to see the traveling display to celebrate the 40th year)
137 is very impressive. I think I’ve been to maybe 30 of them over the years and think that’s good (the most recent was the Myrtle Beach HRC). I miss the Newport Beach one and am glad I went there before it closed. And of course, having had an HRC here in Salt Lake was nice for a while.
woooot! Dave + HRC = awesomeness
More proof that Clapton rocks.
Happy Birthday, Hard Rock!
Hard Rock London was my first back in 1995. Since then I’ve only been to five or six others: Dublin, Edinburgh, Phoenix, San Francisco, and I think a couple of others in California.
The last Hard Rock I visited was in Madrid. Still have the hat, too.
Happy Anniversary, Hard Rock!