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The Big Guitar In 1995, Peter Morton opened the first Hard Rock Hotel & Casino off the Las Vegas strip and it was an overnight sensation. Under Peter Morton’s leadership, the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas was so successful that a subsequent 1999 expansion was added that nearly doubled the hotel's capacity. Morton spent $80 million to build the hotel, which opened in early 1995, and $100 million to expand it in 1999.
In May 2006, Morton sold the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel to New York based Morgans Hotel Group for $770 million including 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 W. land valued at $50 million.
Hard Rock Las vegas is better known for its atmosphere than its food. The cafes not only solicit donations of music memorabilia, but also purchase a number of items at auctions around the world. Hard Rock has the world's largest collection of such items. Memorabilia like autographed guitars, outfits from world tours and rare photographs are oft to be found mounted on cafe walls. The collection began in 1979 with the gift of a un-signed guitar from Eric Clapton, who was a regular at the first restaurant in London. Pete Townshend of The Who got wind of this and sent in one of his guitars, also un-signed. Attached was a note: "Mine's as good as his! Love, Pete." Hard Rock has so much material in its archive, over 70,000 items, that it opened a Hard Rock museum named "The Vault" in Orlando, Florida. It closed in 2004. The London Vault remains open, located near the original cafe. Memorabilia is displayed on location for seven years before it is returned to Hard Rock headquarters in Orlando for archival storage. On occasion, Hard Rock Las Vegas has given an item back to its original owner, such as when Peter Frampton asked for his displayed guitar back.
