Free Republic

The iconic neon guitar that beckoned visitors to the Las Vegas Hard Rock Café for 27 years has found a new home — and new life — at the city’s Neon Museum. The 82-foot-tall sign, Inspired by Pete Townshend’s No. 9 Gibson Les Paul Deluxe, was unplugged when the cafe, which sat adjacent to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino on Paradise Boulevard, closed in 2016.

Hard Rock Removes Ad After Accusations That a Guitar-Playing Orangutan Is Offensive Inset: Hard Rock's offending ad by KATHERINE TIMPF April 21, 2015 Ad was intended to promote new location in Malaysia. Hard Rock Cafe has ended a promotional campaign featuring a Photoshopped picture of an orangutan playing a guitar after facing accusations that the picture was outrageously offensive because the orangutan was playing a guitar. The ad was intended to promote the chain’s new location in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah in Malaysia and home to a famous wildlife refuge for the endangered animal. Seeing...

The Seminole Tribe of Florida is buying the Hard Rock business, including its massive collection of rock 'n' roll memorabilia, in a $965 million deal with British casino and hotel company Rank Group PLC, the tribe announced Thursday. The Hard Rock business includes 124 Hard Rock Cafes, four Hard Rock Hotels, two Hard Rock Casino Hotels, two Hard Rock Live! concert venues, and stakes in three unbranded hotels. With it, the tribe acquires what is said to be the world's largest collection of rock memorabilia, some 70,000 pieces including Jimi Hendrix's Flying V guitar, one of Madonna's bustiers, a pair...

Central London restaurant on fire The restaurant is a popular destination for tourists A fire has broken out at the Hard Rock Cafe in central London. Eight fire engines are attending to the fire at the seven-storey restaurant situated in Piccadilly's Park Lane, the London Fire Brigade said. Ducting at the building was alight from the ground all the way up to the roof, a spokeswoman said. There is no information on casualties. The fire takes place as the emergency services struggle to recover victims of this week's bomb attacks in London.