Remember when the Hard Rock Café was supposedly one of the coolest places on the planet? When I was in school, every September, all the rich kids would wear their Hard Rock Café t-shirts showing the cool places they had been on vacation. When I finally got a chance to visit one (San Francisco, the old location on Van Ness Ave.), I spent nearly an hour walking around in awe of all the incredible things they had displayed on the walls, and watching classic rock videos. I didn't want to leave. Now, it's just another national chain restaurant and tourist trap with high prices for food that is nothing special. They get over-exposed musicians to sign hundreds of guitars that they have never owned or even played. In authentic music towns like Memphis and New Orleans, people walk past the Hard Rock Cafés without giving them a second glance. And nobody cool wears the t-shirts and hats anymore because they make you look like a tasteless, mindless, tourist sucker. Or...maybe HRC hasn't changed much at all. Maybe it's me who has changed.
No, HardRockCafe changed. Even Pittsburgh has one. We are not a tourist spot. We were a major center for Jazz, sure, in the 30s. When you have this many locations, it's pretty hard to stay special.
My opinion of them started changing when they built in Myrtle Beach, SC (The Pyramid) and Gatlinburg, TN. I've always thought of both as redneck vacation destinations. Around that same time, they moved their SF location to Pier 39, the tackiest place in town. Changes in media technology worked against them too. Watching their high quality concert footage of Jimi Hendrix or AC-DC was much more special before everybody had YouTube and VH1 Classic at home. Suddenly, they saw the momentum in their world shift to newer competitors like Planet Hollywood, Margaritaville, and House of Blues, which all had fresher concepts. HRC's original restaurant in London was surely the real deal. It was the local bands (The Who, Rolling Stones, etc.) that came up with the idea of hanging signed guitars on the wall there. Not lame at all. One nostalgia chain that seems to have been able to expand without getting watered down is Johnny Rockets. Every time I've been in one of those, the young staff seems to put a lot of energy into dancing '50s-style on the tables, as if they really enjoy performing. :hurray: :sunny: That chain isn't too pretentious or full of their own success. They still sell a great burger at a good price - maybe 60% of what you would pay at HRC. And people are not so tired of '50s music anymore, since it gets played so little on the oldies stations. When I'm in a town with a Johnny Rockets, I try to fit it in my schedule. Contrast them to Texas Roadhouse, the ultimate theme restaurant disaster. When the local waitresses do the hourly country line dance, they look like they would rather be publicly beaten than have to go through it one more time. :ack2: I would rather stare at my food for three minutes than to see their pathetic dance numbers and sad faces. Does upper management not know that their show is a joke? But yeah, I have changed a little too. I'm not sure that I will ever again buy into some national chain's concept the way that I might have 20 years ago, no matter what it is. Locally-owned places are the way to go, when you want some authentic cultural flavor. The management is likely to be less cynical and heartless.
the original hard rock in toronto is still there...i remember before it was just another tourist trap....last time i was there it was the night of roger waters about 2ish years ago and the girl let us sit upstairs where it was empty...had a beer and split
I had always wanted to go because I heard it was soooo cool and the "hip" place to visit...but after I went, I noticed that it attracts a certain kind of crowd that I just don't want to be a part of. I feel like the clientele of that place really made it go downhill...at least in Boston, anyway
The nearest Hard Rock Cafe for me is 8 hours away. So I never got a whole lot of exposure. About 13 years ago I went to the Hard Rock Cafe in DC where they were playing video footage of Led Zepplin and the waitresses started dancing on the bar table. That was one of the best places I'd ever been to. About 12 years later I was at a Hard Rock cafe in Miami. Even I noticed the place had a much different atmosphere and it was very stale and boring. It was a late friday afternoon as well. To come to think of it, I haven't seen many people wear Hard Rock Cafe or Planet Hollywood t-shirts in a hell of a long time
What are you talking about? I think Hard Rock Cafe is cool--granted, I've only been to two (the one in Boston and the one in New York), but I think it's a cool place! I like the atmosphere there--and yeah, I like to look around at all the cool stuff hanging on the walls--it's stuff I don't get to see every day!
i don't think i've ever been to a hard rock cafe. but in the mid nineties i had a hard rock somewhere tshirt. i forget where but i hadn't been. i think hard rock lost some of its origninality when shwarzeneger opened planet hollywood... funny though i had not thought of this in forever.
I'm with boguskyle. Last time I was at a Hard Rock Cafe was in 1991 in Aspen Colorado. And back then $12 for a BLT is a bit extreme. Tasted great, but $12 great? No way! I could go back home to Fruita and get a BLT with soda and fries for $4.95. Hey, it was a paid-for trip, so who was I to complain? The hotels in Aspen were outragous as well. $550 a night for a room....thank God someone else paid for it!
Their loaded nachos with pickled jalapenos are fucking amazing. I would mortgage my house for them. Last time I had them, I was in Florida on a high school band trip. they had the Magical Mystery Tour bus out front and we took pictures, then went and ate in the Beatles room. It was badass.
