The brainchild of Isaac Tigrett and Peter Morton, the first Hard Rock Café opened its doors in London, England on June 14, 1971. Attracting customers with first-rate but moderately-priced casual American fare, warm service and ubiquitous rock 'n' roll music and sensibility, Hard Rock Café became an instant classic. Since then it has grown into a multi-dimensional corporation that includes restaurants and hotels worldwide, collectible fashion, music-related merchandise and live concert venues, and one of the most universally recognized trademarks on the planet.

The story of the birth of Hard Rock's memorabilia collection is itself a part of music history. The collection was started when Eric Clapton, a regular customer at the original Hard Rock Café in London, asked the staff if he could hang his guitar on the wall to mark his favorite barstool as 'his spot.' They did, and one week later, a package from The Who's Pete Townshend arrived with a guitar and a note bearing the message, 'Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete.' Today Hard Rock's unparalleled memorabilia collection consists of 69,000+ pieces, including classic guitars and other instruments, posters, costumes, music lyric sheets, album art, platinum and gold LPs, photos and much more, and is valued at more than $50 million.