Getting a Line on Our Soft Spot for the Hard Rock Cafe

The Hard Rock Cafe is 20th-Century pop culture crammed into one restaurant. Gold records, guitars once belonging to rock ‘n’ roll greats, nostalgic photos and gleaming motorcycles line the walls, floor and ceiling.

The food is vintage American ‘50s diner fare: hamburgers, shakes, chicken, chocolate cake. The music is non-stop and loud. And teens and yuppified adults are happy to wait up to two hours in line to be bombarded by it all. They come dressed in the latest outre fashions, crowding the circular bar and the oversize tables and booths, shouting above the rock tunes.

In four years the Hard Rock, which occupies one street-level corner of the monolithic Beverly Center, has become a hangout and an L.A. landmark, no small feat in a city that’s fickle when it comes to pledging allegiance to a restaurant. The sea-green Cadillac embedded in the roof outside, tail fin pointed heavenward, has become a symbol almost as famous as the Hollywood Sign.

A Recipe That Works

Owner Peter Morton chalks his success up to two time-worn formulas: “great American food” and the fact that “we just try to take good care of the customers.” The recipe is working so far in other towns: London (the original), Chicago, San Francisco. Soon Houston, San Diego, New Orleans and Hawaii will have their own Hard Rocks (Morton does not own the one in New York).

During the day you’re more likely to see families or groups of teen-agers, as well as refugees from the mall world upstairs. Nighttime (especially on weekends) is reserved for the overflow of students from Westwood and a steady stream of the young, hip and upwardly mobile from all over. The prices are L.A.-reasonable, $5.50 for a hamburger to $9.95 for ribs.

“The Hard Rock started out as a ‘50s restaurant,” Morton says in a post-surfer drawl, “but when everyone jumped on this ‘50s thing, we started to quietly divorce ourselves from it and concentrated more on rock ‘n’ roll. (Waitresses still wear car-hop uniforms, complete with tiny white caps and bobby socks). We’re the Smithsonian of rock ‘n’ roll in terms of memorabilia.”

Sanctified Guitars

Among the objets de rock: guitars once belonging to Bob Dylan, Eddie Van Halen and Duane Eddy, a bust of Keith Richards, Randy Newman’s autographed sheet music to “I Love L.A.” and a kinetic artwork from songwriter Allee Willis (which, it seems, no hip restaurant is without these days). Morton recently shelled out $32,000 at a London auction for the guitar Bill Haley played in the 1956 movie “Rock Around the Clock.”

Some time ago the Brat Pack (Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, et al.) adopted the Hard Rock as their local watering hole, arriving regularly en masse to quaff a few brews and soak up the stares of the curious.

Celebs still frequent it; 22-year-old Elizabeth Colonna said on her last trip she spotted actor Howie Mandel. “My sister about had a stroke,” she said.

Well Worth the Wait

Colonna was describing the encounter as she, her sisters and some friends waited on line outside recently for dinner. From their spot, directly under one of the tail fins, they figured it would be at least a 45-minute wait for a table. It didn’t seem to bother them.

“The atmosphere is fun in there,” Colonna added. “Except for the stuck-up guys. You know, the ones who’ve been blow-drying their hair for three hours.”

Inside, a non-blow-dried Brian Cohen, who owns two restaurants in his native Australia, was extolling the virtues of the Hard Rock. “It’s a fun place to come with a group,” he said. “The atmosphere is always changing. It’s a blast. The drinks are not expensive, it’s loud, it’s obnoxious . . . but the French fries could be better.”

Cohen, 24, always makes it a point to come to the Hard Rock when in Los Angeles. “If this were in Australia, I’d go to it.”

The Hard Rock Cafe, 8600 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 276-7605.