Chicago's Hard Rock Café to close for good after 39 years
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An era is coming to an end in River North, as the Chicago outpost of the Hard Rock Café is soon to close after 39 years in business.
The Chicago Hard Rock Café at 63 W. Ontario St. opened in June 1986, when Harold Washington was mayor of Chicago, Ronald Reagan was in his second term as president, and Bill Kurtis, Walter Jacobson, and Don Craig were the principal anchors on Channel 2.
Chicago's Hard Rock opened about five months after the Bears had won Super Bowl XX. On the subject of rock, it also opened the same month that Keith Richards famously joined Chuck Berry onstage to a cheering crowd at the Petrillo Band Shell for the Chicago Blues Festival.
But when March 29 comes around, that massive lit sign evoking a boomerang-shaped guitar will go dark.
"In the meantime, we will ensure all of our team members receive outplacement support and resources, we welcome them to apply for any other open positions throughout the company," the Hard Rock Café said in part in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming guests at any of our other 319 locations in 74 countries, including the nearby Hard Rock Cafes in Rockford and Northern Indiana and five new Hard Rock Cafe and Rock Shop locations opening this quarter."
Hard Rock Café: An early entertainment anchor on Ontario Street
At one time, Ontario Street in River North was known mostly as a path to the Ohio Street Feeder Ramp and the Kennedy Expressway. As late as 1984, it was known mostly as a strip of gas stations, Jim Avila reported for Channel 2 News.
But in 1985, club owner and party promoter Peter Gatien took over the long-vacant former Chicago Historical Society museum at Ontario and Dearborn streets and turned it into the Chicago outpost of his Limelight chain.
On June 27, 1986, the Hard Rock Café held its $200,000 grand opening party at its new location right across Ontario Street from the Limelight. American businessmen Peter Morton and Isaac Tigrett opened the first Hard Rock Café in London in 1971, and the first U.S. Hard Rock Café opened in Los Angeles in 1982.
Four days later, Morton said he was "very proud to be a part of Chicago."
The grand opening event that Friday was headlined by British rock singer Robert Palmer.
"It's like a surefire thing," Palmer told Channel 2 News, cigarette in hand. "Social gathering, social watering hole for the young and unattached."
Across the street, the Limelight welcomed its new neighbor — envisioning that people would go drink and dance at their nightclub before or after grabbing a bite to eat at the Hard Rock Café.
The Limelight closed on New Year's Eve 1988, and was supplanted by the famous Excalibur nightclub the following year. Tao Chicago now operates in the space.
But the Hard Rock Café has been there across the street all along — featuring a variety of memorabilia. Just a few of the many fan favorites include a shirt that belonged to Prince, a leather satchel that belonged to John Lennon, a drum set and a guitar from Cheap Trick, and guitars that belonged to Dire Straits, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix, and the aforementioned Chuck Berry.
The entertainment district that developed along and around Ontario Street in River North also came to include a Rainforest Café right behind the Hard Rock at 605 N. Clark St., which opened in 1997. Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's was also a landmark in the area for many years — dating back before Hard Rock or the Limelight to 1983.
The Rainforest Café closed for good in 2020, and subsequent plans for a marijuana dispensary in its old space did not work out. The original Rock 'n' Roll McDonald's was torn down in 2004 and replaced with a new building — which kept the rock and roll theme for a while, but dropped it after remodel in 2012.
Another anchor in the entertainment district, Planet Hollywood, opened a short distance to the west at 633 N. Wells St. in 1993 — but lasted only six years. Its building was later occupied by a Gino's East pizzeria, and was demolished in 2015 to make way for The Gallery on Wells luxury high-rise.
As for Hard Rock, it will continue to operate casinos in Gary, Indiana, and in Rockford.
