The competition that kick-started the Hard Rock Cafe collection
When I first moved to London from the United States to attend university in the summer of 2024, I had my customary list of tourist sites to cross off during my first time in the city, and among the usual haunts, near the top of my list was to visit the two Hard Rock Cafe locations that London boasts.
I’d like to pride myself on being unsusceptible to a typical tourist trap, but, in my eyes, a Hard Rock Cafe is anything but typical. Where else can one enjoy a meal of burgers and fries while sitting beneath, say, a guitar once owned by Keith Richards? Even more brilliant are the collections that each location has to offer, a rock ‘n’ roll heaven for any travelling music fan. Sure, they’re expensive, and the food is nothing to write home about, but they have a sort of nostalgic charm that I can’t resist.
London is the birthplace of Hard Rock, opening its first location in Hyde Park in 1971 and its second, located in the heart of Piccadilly Circus, in 2019 (which has, among other items, the One Direction phone booth housed in the restaurant gift shop). To the slight chagrin of every lovely family member and friend who came to visit me from the States in the coming months, I dragged them along for their own first visits to both locations. Maybe it’s the Americana of it all that compels me to seek out the nearest Hard Rock everywhere I go, but I find the idea behind the franchise fascinating. Without question, I would try to convince those around me to see the beauty in the kitsch, too.
Before the franchise expanded to locations internationally, Hard Rock’s story began with two American businessmen, Peter Morton, the son of Arnie Morton, founder of the Morton’s Steakhouse chain, and Isaac Tigrett, who would later found the House of Blues chain of concert venues and restaurants. In 1971, the two friends were living in post-Swinging Sixties London, immersed in the music and culture that the scene had to offer. In the midst of it all, the pair were left missing one thing: a classic American burger.
In turn, they decided to open their own American-style diner, modelled after the postwar Americana of the 1950s: burgers, grilled cheeses, French fries, milkshakes and Coca-Cola galore. Morton and Tigrett signed a six-month lease in an abandoned Rolls-Royce dealership, opening the doors of 150 Old Park Lane, Hyde Park on June 14th, 1971. They enlisted the artist Alan Aldridge, known for his work with The Beatles, to design a logo modelled after a Chevrolet car hood ornament, incidentally creating an icon of a symbol that persists today in the T-shirts, pins, shot glasses and various other collectables sold at the restaurants.
Far before Hard Rock turned into a museum where you could also indulge in a meal and a few beers, the location began hosting live gigs, somewhat accidentally. Two years after the Hyde Park location opened, Paul McCartney and Wings played what would be their first-ever gig in London: a spontaneous benefit concert, before their UK tour embarked, that reportedly only cost the some-200 attendees £5. Wings would be the first of many gigs at the restaurant to follow, solidifying the connection between Morton and Tigrett’s vision for their business and the culture of rock ‘n’ roll.
What the Hard Rock franchise is perhaps best known for, however, is its impressive collection of thousands of items of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia. Walk into any given location worldwide, and you’ll see the walls covered floor-to-ceiling in rock musicians’ most personal items, almost unfathomable to see up-close: everything from clothing and shoes, to old instruments, sheets of notebook paper with scrawled lyrics, signed vinyl and CDs, artworks, the list goes on. But it all began in 1979 with Eric Clapton, who was a regular at the original London location. As he tended to frequent the exact same barstool on every visit, Clapton gave Tigrett a red Lead II Fender guitar, one of many in his collection, asking the owner to hang it on the wall nearby to ‘mark his spot’. This became the first piece of memorabilia, of what would become many, ever donated to the Hard Rock franchise.
Tigrett obliged, and a week later, came to find another guitar arriving at the restaurant: a Gibson Les Paul sent in an unsuspecting package. “Mine’s as good as his! Love, Pete,” the accompanying note read, written by none other than Pete Townshend. A moment of humorous rivalry kick-started a collection of over 87,000 items acquired for the Hard Rock archive, now the largest private collection of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia in the world. The franchise acquires these items through both donations and purchase auctions, with a major acquisition coming about through Sotheby’s auction of rock memorabilia in 1986. The Hard Rock collection continues to expand to this day, with some locations (including London) having a separate ‘vault’ where items are stored.
Expanding internationally, from the first location in the United States, opening in Los Angeles in 1982, to Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and beyond, over 300 Hard Rock Cafes exist in over 70 countries. Venturing into concert venues, casinos, hotels and live music events, after the brand was officially acquired by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in 2007, the Hard Rock brand has grown significantly since its humble beginnings in Hyde Park. However kitschy its legacy remains, a Hard Rock Cafe is one of the coolest and most rare opportunities to get close to rock history, even if it’s in such an unconventional way.
