One Last Look at the Hard Rock

Goodbye Hard Rock Casino Las Vegas

After 25 years of Rock and Roll hipness in Las Vegas, the Hard Rock Resort is saying goodbye. In February of 2020, the new owners will close the place down for an 8-month overhaul and will rebrand it as a Virgin Hotel.

[arve url=”https://youtu.be/GY7jU8vDnfI” title=” Saying Good-Bye to the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas” /]

 

One Last Look

Yes, The Hard Rock Resort in Las Vegas, first opened in 1995, will be closing soon. So I thought it was time to take one last look around before all the end of the year craziness hits and I forget.  Hey! It’s happened before!  My best and most frequent memories of the place were my years as a Las Vegas chauffeur.  This place was the scene for some of my best rides and greatest tips.  As well, I got to meet some wonderful people and had some awesome memories.  Most of them can not be recounted here without some serious censorship!! I will say this,  some of my guests I picked up or dropped off here paid my rent several times and I was very thankful for that!

The Hall(s) of Fame

One of the best things people always say about this place is  Rock music memorabilia.  The walls are lined with classic rock concert posters, promotions, outfits from some of the most iconic rock performances and performers.  The stage equipment, the wardrobes and the paraphernalia that made some of the great rock legends, rock legends!  That alone has always made this a great place to stop and stay awhile.  This was the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame before there ever was a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

The cool part was that a lot of it was personally donated or loaned to the resort by the people who made them famous.  The Hard Rock, in it’s prime, you really never knew who you may see here. Not just in the nightclub or the concert hall, but out in the pits, gambling, or hanging out poolside. This was ground zero for the A-List’ers and the cool people of the time!

 

Hard Rock Memorabilia

Special Exhibit

Now that the end is near for the place, they are having a special exhibit of some of the classic stuff they have in storage.  So not only can you wander around and see the usual memorabilia on the walls and in cases, but they have added a special room filled with displays of items from the past.  Sort of like a small-time capsule of sorts.

Prince at the Hard Rock


Hard Rock Timeline

1995 – The hotel was a joint venture of Harveys Lake Tahoe and Peter Morton, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe.

1997 – Peter Morton bought out the entire project

2002 – John Entwistle of the rock band The Who died while staying there.  The Clark County medical examiner determined that his death was due to a heart attack induced by a cocaine overdose.

2006 – The Morgans Hotel Group signed definitive agreements with its partners to purchase the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

2011 – Ownership of the hotel was turned over to Brookfield Asset Management

2018 – Hard Rock Resort las Vegas was purchased by Virgin Hotels in partnership with a group of investment firms.

Virgin Hotel Timeline

February 2020 – Sometime shortly after the 2020 Super Bowl is played and all the crowds go home, the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino will close its doors for the final time.

November 2020 – In time for the holiday party crowds, the Virgin Hotel management has claimed they will reopen in time for New Year’s Eve.  Remodeled, rebranded and renamed.

Editors Opinion: watching how badly they have managed this takeover so far, I doubt they will survive the closing.  My opinion is that they will soon realize they can not/will not be able to survive in La Vegas on name branding alone (can we say SLS?) and abandoned the project or sell it off before any grand opening! Does anyone agree? Disagree??

 

 

 




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