Hard Rock Cafe

The first Hard Rock Cafe opened on June 14, 1971, at 150 Old Park Lane in London, founded by two Americans abroad, Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton. It began as a straightforward American diner in Britain; the wall of memorabilia that would define the brand came later, and almost by accident. In 1979 the collection started with an un-signed red Fender Lead II guitar from Eric Clapton, a regular, who wanted management to hang it over his usual seat to lay claim to the spot. When Pete Townshend of The Who saw it, he sent one of his own guitars with a note: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete."

That rivalry became a business model. The chain began expanding worldwide in 1982 — Morton opening cafes in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston while Tigrett opened locations across the eastern United States and beyond — each one hung with instruments, costumes, and framed relics, each one selling a logo tee stamped with its city's name. The city-branded merchandise turned every location into a passport stamp, and collecting the shirts became its own hobby.

By the 1990s the Hard Rock Cafe was a fixture of tourist strips and big-city downtowns, the loud, welcoming, memorabilia-stuffed destination a family made a point of visiting. Its success spawned a wave of imitators — Planet Hollywood and Rainforest Cafe among them — that chased the same formula of theme, spectacle, and a gift shop by the door. The guitars, and the shirts, endure.