Hard Rock Hotel and Casino
Encyclopedia
The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Paradise
Paradise, Nevada
Paradise is an unincorporated town in the Las Vegas metropolitan area in Clark County, Nevada, United States. The population was 223,167 at the 2010 census...

, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

, is an entertainment resort owned and operated by Brookfield Asset Management and Warner Gaming, LLC.. The property is located on 16.7 acres (6.8 ha) on the corner of Harmon and Paradise Road, inside the Paradise Corridor.

Features of the property include the hotel tower, a 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) casino, Tahitian-style beach and swimming pool, a nightclub, five restaurants, three cocktail lounges, several retail stores, a spa, a poker room, and "The Joint", a music venue. Hard Rock earns only about 30% of its revenue from gaming, probably the lowest percentage of any major resort in the Las Vegas strip region.

History

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino was built in 1995 by Peter Morton
Peter Morton
Peter Morton was the co-founder with Isaac Tigrett of the Hard Rock Café, a chain of casual dining restaurants. His father is Arnie Morton, founder of Morton's, and his son is Harry Morton, founder of Pink Taco restaurants...

, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe
Hard Rock Cafe is a chain of theme restaurants founded in 1971 by Americans Peter Morton & Isaac Tigrett. In 1979, the cafe began covering its walls with rock and roll memorabilia, a tradition which expanded to others in the chain. In 2006, Hard Rock was sold to the Seminole Tribe of Florida, and...

. It was expanded in 1999, and began another expansion in 2007. In June 2002 influential rock bassist John Entwistle
John Entwistle
John Alec Entwistle was an English bass guitarist, songwriter, singer, horn player, and film and record producer who was best known as the bass player for the rock band The Who. His aggressive lead sound influenced many rock bass players...

 of The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 died in one of the hotel's rooms. The hotel management originally refused to release the room number out of respect, but later reports indicate that Entwistle died in Room 658 (considered a "deluxe suite"). Many fans still pay tribute to Entwistle, by visiting the hotel.

On May 11, 2006, the Morgans Hotel Group signed definitive agreements with its partners to purchase the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. As part of the deal, MHG retains the rights to use the Hard Rock name for hotels and casinos in the Western United States and certain other territories, 23 acres (9.3 ha) of land for expansion on the corner of Harmon and Paradise for $770 million. Morgans operated the property and had a 12.8% equity partner in the venture along with DLJ Merchant Banking Partners
DLJ Merchant Banking Partners
DLJ Merchant Banking Partners is a private equity investment firm focused on leveraged buyout transactions. The firm is currently an affiliate of Credit Suisse and traces its roots to Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, the investment bank acquired by Credit Suisse First Boston in 2000...

 until February of 2011. On October 25, 2008, professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

 show TNA iMPACT!
TNA iMPACT!
Impact Wrestling is a professional wrestling television program for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling that currently airs in the United States and Canada on Spike...

 broadcast their first HD
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 show from the building.

The Joint

The Joint is a rock club which has featured performances by the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, Aerosmith
Aerosmith
Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

, The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes
The Black Crowes are an American rock band formed in 1989. Their discography includes nine studio albums, four live albums and several charting singles. The band was signed to Def American Recordings in 1989 by producer George Drakoulias and released their debut album, Shake Your Money Maker, the...

, David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...

, Coldplay
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

, Kenny Chesney
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth "Kenny" Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer and songwriter. Chesney has recorded 15 albums, 14 of which have been certified gold or higher by the RIAA. He has also produced more than 30 Top Ten singles on the U.S...

, Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters is an American alternative rock band originally formed in 1994 by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the dissolution of his previous band. The band got its name from the UFOs and various aerial phenomena that were reported by Allied aircraft pilots in World War...

, Alicia Keys
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook , better known by her stage name Alicia Keys, is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and occasional actress. She was raised by a single mother in the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan in New York City. At age seven, Keys began playing the piano...

, Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...

, and The Killers.The "Joint" was expected to host The Who
The Who
The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 on their first leg of their US of tour of 2002. However, the death of the group's bassist John Entwistle the previous day led the group to postpone the show for several months. "The Joint" has also hosted several WEC
World Extreme Cagefighting
World Extreme Cagefighting was an American mixed martial arts promotion. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship , in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was made up of 3 weight classes: 135, 145 and 155 lbs. To accommodate the smaller...

 events including WEC 42
WEC 42
WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on August 9, 2009 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NevadaThe event drew an estimated 670,000 viewers on Versus.-Preliminary card:...

 on August 9, 2009.

The original "Joint" closed its doors in February 2009. The new "Joint" opened on April 17, 2009, with The Killers performing the inaugural concert. The opening weekend also included shows by Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold
Avenged Sevenfold is an American heavy metal band from Huntington Beach, California. Formed in 1999, the group consists of vocalist M. Shadows, lead guitarist Synyster Gates, rhythm guitarist Zacky Vengeance, bassist Johnny Christ....

 on April 18 and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...

 on April 19. The new venue is nearly twice the size of the original, holding up to 4,000 attendees, and features three levels including private skyboxes and VIP table seating.

Vanity nightclub

Vanity is the nightclub at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. It is part of the property expansion and occupies new space. Designed by Mr. Important, the 14000 square feet (1,300.6 m²) venue has two bars and 60 VIP booths. The signature feature of the club is the "cyclone" chandelier which sprawls over the dance floor. The chandelier has over 20,000 crystals, each lit with individually controlled full-color LED lights. It is open Thursday through Sunday, with Thursday nights continuing the Godskitchen house music party which was hosted at Body English. The other nights are "open format"; resident DJs Clinton Sparks, Eric D-Lux, DJ Five, and Presto One provide music on the weekends. The venue is co-owned by the hotel and Jason Giambi
Jason Giambi
Jason Gilbert Giambi is an American professional baseball first baseman with the Colorado Rockies of Major League Baseball.He was the American League MVP in 2000 while with the Oakland Athletics, and is a five-time All-Star who has led the American League in walks four times, in on base percentage...

. The venue opened on December 31, 2009, and its grand opening weekend featured performances by DJ Vice and Bob Sinclar, as well as a party hosted by Sean "Diddy" Combs.

The former nightclub was Body English. Its final day of operation was December 31, 2009. Designed by Kelly Wearstler, the space featured two self-contained bars on different levels, a large dance floor, 48 VIP booths, and a vintage $250,000 Baccarat chandelier. Body English was the home of "Sunday Pervert School" and "Indulge Fridays", mainstays of Las Vegas nightlife. The Godskitchen party was also held at Body English every Wednesday, bringing headline dance music and talent to the venue. Body English was notably the first Las Vegas residency for the late DJ AM.

Rehab


Rehab is the original pool party in Las Vegas. Each Sunday during pool season, the Beach Club at the Hard Rock transforms into a massive outdoor party. Thousands of revellers attend each week and party from morning till night (the party runs from 11:00 AM until 8:00 PM). While the resident DJ corps plays a wide variety of music, Rehab has become a noted destination for headline dance music DJs. Guest DJs have included Tiësto
Tiësto
Tijs Michiel Verwest, , known as Tiësto , is a Dutch musician, DJ and record producer of electronic dance music. Although he has used many aliases in the past, he is best known for his work as DJ Tiësto...

, Sharam of Deep Dish, Fedde Le Grand
Fedde le Grand
Fedde le Grand is a Dutch house DJ and producer whose single "Put Your Hands Up For Detroit" / "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detroit" reached number one on the UK's singles and the top 5 in the Dutch singles chart, and spent five weeks in the Spanish dance chart...

, Bad Boy Bill
Bad Boy Bill
Bad Boy Bill is a DJ from Chicago, Illinois, U.S.. He plays an assortment of house music.Bad Boy Bill began his DJ career in 1985 during the Chicago House music movement of the mid and late 80's working with Mike "Hitman" Wilson and Julian "Jumpin" Perez of the then WBMX dj mixing team known as...

, BT
BT (musician)
Brian Wayne Transeau is a classically trained and Grammy-nominated American music producer, composer, audio technician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter better known by his stage name, BT. He is an artist in the electronic genre...

, Donald Glaude
Donald Glaude
Donald Glaude is a house music artist, DJ and remixer, and is consistently ranked as one of DJ Mag's top 100 DJs.-Biography:As a child, Donald was classically trained in the upright bass and violin. After hearing early funk records, he began experimenting with tape decks and a primitive radio...

, and Jonathan Peters
Jonathan Peters
Jonathan Peters is an American DJ, remixer and producer.-Albums:*Live With Jonathan Peters *Last Dance: Soundfactory Classics *Jonathan Peters Presents: Pacha New York -References:...

. It has also become a frequent site for celebrities including Akon
Akon
Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, better known as simply Akon , is a Senegalese American R&B recording artist and songwriter.According to Forbes, Akon grossed $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of "Locked Up", the first...

, Paris Hilton, Clinton Sparks
Clinton Sparks
Clinton Sparks is a Boston-based radio, mixtape & Club DJ as well as a recording artist, writer, producer and TV personality.-Biography:...

, DJ Vice, and Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray
Sugar Ray is a band from Orange County, California. The band, starting off more as an alternative metal band, first gained fame in 1997 with their release of the song "Fly". This song's success, coupled with its pop rock sound that was quite different from the rest of their material at the time,...

. Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...

 made her Las Vegas debut at Rehab.

Wasted Space

Wasted Space was a nightlife entertainment outlet at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. It featured a stage dedicated to live music and has hosted acts including Pink
Pink (singer)
Alecia Beth Moore , better known by her stage name Pink , is an American singer-songwriter, musician and actress....

, Filter
Filter (band)
Filter is a rock group formed in 1993 in Cleveland by singer Richard Patrick and guitarist/programmer Brian Liesegang. Filter has released five studio albums, the most recent being The Trouble with Angels, which was released on August 17, 2010....

, and Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol
Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...

. It opened in June 2008 with performances by Gavin Rossdale
Gavin Rossdale
Gavin McGregor Rossdale is an English musician, known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Bush as well as an actor. Following Bush's separation in 2002, which lasted for eight years, he was the lead singer and guitarist for Institute, and later began a solo career. He...

 and Camp Freddy. It was voted "Best New Bar" by Citylife Carey Hart. Baseball superstar Jason Giambi and musicians Benji and Joel Madden were also investors.

Wasted Space closed in August 2010 and was replaced by a Race and Sports book.

Other features

  • Hotel - an 11-story tower with 648 guestrooms, 64 suites and penthouses.
  • Casino - a 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) casino that includes table games including, blackjack, roulette, and poker, and swim-up blackjack. The casino also features a high-limit slot machine room.
  • Meeting Space - over 60000 square feet (5,574.2 m²) of meeting space and an additional 136000 square feet (12,634.8 m²) of special event space.
  • Restaurants
    • 35 Steak and Martinis - Modern American Steakhouse
    • LTO - Contemporary Italian and Pizza
    • Mr. Lucky’s
    • Pink Taco - Mexican
    • Blitzed - Sports Lounge
    • Johnny Smalls - Tapas
    • Nobu - Japanese
  • Shops and Boutiques
    • Love Jones - boutique
    • The Hair Salon
    • Reliquary - Spa and Salon

2010 expansion

The multi-phase project brought two new, modern hotel towers, including the boutique HRH tower, high fashion shopping from brands such as John Varvatos
John Varvatos
John Varvatos is an American contemporary high fashion menswear designer.- Biography :The Varvatos family are originally from the small village of Poulata on the Greek island of Cefalonia. John Varvatos was born in Detroit and grew up in Allen Park, a Downriver community situated south of the city...

, several new restaurants and bars, a nightclub and a spa and health club, including Italian trattoria
Trattoria
A trattoria is an Italian-style eating establishment, less formal than a ristorante, but more formal than an osteria. There are generally no printed menus, the service is casual, wine is sold by the decanter rather than the bottle, prices are low, and the emphasis is on a steady clientele rather...

, LTO. The expansion tripled capacity at the pool, home of Rehab. "The Joint" tripled its seating capacity
Seating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...

.

Appearances in media

The hotel was featured in the film Con Air
Con Air
Con Air is an Academy Award–nominated 1997 American action-thriller film directed by Simon West and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer. It stars Nicolas Cage, John Cusack and John Malkovich...

where the fugitive plane crashes through the hotel's prominent Fender Stratocaster
Fender Stratocaster
The Fender Stratocaster, often referred to as "Strat", is a model of electric guitar designed by Leo Fender, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares in 1954, and manufactured continuously by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation to the present. It is a double-cutaway guitar, with an extended top...

 guitar. The film, however, portrayed the hotel inaccurately located on Las Vegas Blvd. near the Stratosphere. The guitar was also featured in Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid
Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is the 1992 sequel to the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Directed by Randal Kleiser and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Robert Oliveri and Amy O'Neill, who reprise their roles as Wayne, Diane, Nick, and Amy Szalinski...

 in which two-year-old Adam Szalinski plays the giant guitar before dropping it. The hotel is also featured prominently in the 3rd season episode "Vegas Baby, Vegas!" of Entourage
Entourage (TV series)
Entourage is an American comedy-drama television series that premiered on HBO on July 18, 2004 and concluded on September 11, 2011, after eight seasons...

and also appears in the season 1 episode "The Strip
The Strip (The O.C. episode)
"The Strip" is the 26th episode of the FOX television series, The O.C.. The episode was written by Allan Heinberg and was directed by James Marshall. It originally aired on Wednesday April 28, 2004.-Guest starring:-Plot:...

" of Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

's The O.C.
The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...

, and on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

's Bam's Unholy Union
Bam's Unholy Union
Bam's Unholy Union is an American reality series that aired on MTV and MTV Canada. It follows Bam Margera and his fiancee Missy Rothstein as they plan their wedding...

.

The giant guitar out front the hotel/casino can be seen prominently in the 1997 film Vegas Vacation
Vegas Vacation
Vegas Vacation is a 1997 comedy film. It is the fourth film in the original Vacation film series centering around the fictitious Griswold family, following Vacation, European Vacation, and Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase reprises his starring role as Clark W. Griswold, the patriarch of the family...

.

The entrance to Hard Rock was used in the movie 21
21 (2008 film)
21 is a 2008 drama film directed by Australian director Robert Luketic and stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, and Aaron Yoo. The film is inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team as told in Bringing Down the House, the...

, and it featured a room where Ben and Jill made love, however in another inaccuracy in geography, it showed the Bellagio
Bellagio
Bellagio is a comune in the Province of Como in the Italian region Lombardy, located on Lake Como. It has long been famous for its setting at the intersection of the three branches of the Y-shaped lake, which is also known as Lario....

fountains as visible right outside their window. The Bellagio isn't visible at all from any room at the Hard Rock Hotel.

The guitar sign of the hotel was also featured in Urban Strike as a primary target in Las Vegas Mission. Canadian hard rock group My Darkest Days
My Darkest Days
My Darkest Days is a Canadian rock band based in Toronto, consisting of lead singer Matt Walst, lead guitarist Sal Costa, Bassist Brendan McMillan, Drummer Doug Oliver, and keyboardist Reid Henry...

 filmed their video for "Porn Star Dancin'" at the Vanity nightclub in 2010.

Rehab and its security, bartending, and waitressing staffs are the subject of a reality TV series on TruTV entitled Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel
Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel
Rehab: Party at the Hard Rock Hotel is a reality television docudrama broadcast on the TruTV cable network. It focuses on the staff of the Rehab pool party hosted at the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel and Casino...

. The third season of the show debuted on September 7, 2010.

The Hotel is where the cast of the 25th season of the The Real World
The Real World
The Real World is a reality television program on MTV originally produced by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray. First broadcast in 1992, the show, which was inspired by the 1973 PBS documentary series An American Family, is the longest-running program in MTV history and one of the...

resides and where The Real World: Las Vegas
The Real World: Las Vegas
The Real World: Las Vegas is the twelfth season of MTV's reality television series The Real World, which focuses on a group of diverse strangers living together for several months in a different city each season, as cameras follow their lives and interpersonal relationships...

is filmed. Las Vegas' premiere on March 9, 2011 drew 1.7 million viewers to clinch the most viewers for its time slot (10pm) across all of TV from ages 12–35.

External links

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