Peter Morton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Peter Morton (born Chicago in 1946) was the co-founder with Isaac Tigrett of the Hard Rock Café. His father is Arnie Morton, founder of Morton's, and his son is Harry Morton, founder of Pink Taco restaurants.
[edit] Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of casual dining restaurants founded in 1971 by Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton. Their first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London.
The chain began global expansion in 1982 when the two agreed to develop their own cafes across the world. Morton (Hard Rock America) opened Hard Rocks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston, Las Vegas, Nevada; San Diego, La Jolla, and Newport Beach, California; Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; and Israel (later closed) among many others.
In 1995, The Rank Organisation (now The Rank Group) acquired the cafes owned by Morton, but Morton retained the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
In May 2006, Morton sold the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel to New York based Morgans Hotel Company for $770 million along with the rights to the Hard Rock Hotel brand west of the Mississippi River, including Texas, California, Australia and Vancouver, British Columbia. Edward Scheetz, a Morgans’ executive, described the 11-story, 650-room Hard Rock Hotel as a "trophy property" that will never be replicated in Las Vegas because of land values. The Hard Rock pool alone, named one of the top 10 hotel pools by Travel Channel, occupies land valued at $50 million.
[edit] Trivia
- Domino Harvey (August 7, 1969 – June 27, 2005), subject of the October 2005 film Domino starring Kiera Knightly and directed by Tony Scott, was Peter Morton’s step daughter. Morton married her mother, British fashion model Paulene Stone, in the early ‘80s. Domino was the daughter of Lithuanian-born Jewish actor Laurence Harvey (The Manchurian Candidate) and his third wife and widow, Stone. Domino garnered great attention because she was an English-born fashion model turned Los Angeles bounty hunter. She was also the niece of Warwick Stone, former creative director for the Morton’s Hard Rock Cafes (Hard Rock America) and his Hard Rock Hotel.
- Peter Morton is the founder and owner of Los Angeles’ quintessential dining power spot Morton’s. For almost two decades, the ability to get a table at The Ivy or Morton’s has defined the level of importance and clout a person possesses in Hollywood. The restaurant was also the subject of Julia Phillips' 1991 book, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again.
