THE NIGHT STUFF
20 years later, Honolulu Hard Rock's beat goes on
By Derek Paiva
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
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Happy belated birthday, Hard Rock Café Honolulu!
Our state's very first Hard Rock Café turned 20 years old last month, on July 17.
It finally gets around to celebrating the occasion tonight with a birthday bash featuring live music from Barrington Levy, Go Jimmy Go, Natural Vibrations, Ten Feet and Ooklah the Moc. Keeping with the restaurant chain's history of community service and environmental awareness — launched long before Hard Rock Honolulu's 1987 gala grand opening benefiting the local chapter of Child and Family Service — the birthday party's beneficiary is North Shore musician Jack Johnson's Kokua Hawai'i Foundation.
It's sure to be a cool party for a good cause — but in a world very different from the one that welcomed the Honolulu cafe two decades ago.
Remember the warm summer night Hard Rock Café Honolulu opened? Jet-setting then-owner Peter Morton, then-hot rock band Crowded House and assorted luminaries showed up for the invitation-only event. These days, the cafes rarely match that kind of cool.
Forget rock stars coming in to dine on the regular — as they were wont to do in the opening year of Hard Rock Café Honolulu. Nowadays, you're more likely to find visiting rockers hanging at Chef Mavro or Nobu than noshing on burgers in a Hard Rock booth.
Free New Year's Eve shows fronted by national acts like Devo, the Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind disappeared in the mid-'90s. Morton sold his piece of the Hard Rock pie (including Honolulu's cafe) in 1995 to open the first Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, an overnight success he eventually sold in 2006. (Hard Rock Cafe International's cache of restaurants, casinos and hotels were purchased by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in March.)
The Night Stuff's five years of life have seen live music and club nights at the Hard Rock Honolulu come and go, with months sometimes passing without any consistent live music presence at the cafe.
At tonight's 20th bash, an official announcement is expected to be made that the Honolulu cafe will be moving from the corner of Kapi'olani Boulevard and Kalakaua Avenue to a more-tourist-friendly location in Waikiki. No one's sure what will become of the airy, free-standing building Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu currently occupies. And it would be sad to see the still-lovely edifice leveled.
But even if it is no longer the trendiest place for kids to head to on any given evening, our cafe's very hip history as a local nightlife landmark can't be denied.
Here we briefly reminisce on those first flush months of our Hard Rock's life — when Alice Cooper waited in line to get in, and Ringo Starr had brownies hand-delivered to his Maui home — and some other goings on from the years that followed.
Love all. Serve all.
ALOHA, COCO'S
Morton-owned Hard Rock America's March 1986 announcement that there would be a Honolulu location came hours after employees at Coco's restaurant were told the quarter-century-old eatery — home of the Swanky Franky hot dog and Coco Melt — would be torn down to make way for the cafe.
Coco's was leveled immediately after Hard Rock Honolulu's Sept. 2 groundbreaking.
TALK OF THE TOWN
Both Honolulu dailies excitedly addressed all minutiae concerning the rock memorabilia-filled cafe in the months preceding its opening.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS
The combination of Friday pau-hana traffic, a flurry of arriving limos and the just-plain-curious driving by made for a gridlocked grand opening of the $4 million cafe.
More than 1,300 people gathered inside and outside the 250-seat cafe, forking over $160 each for the privilege.
Crowded House — riding its huge radio hit "Don't Dream It's Over" — rocked the opening under a massive tent in the cafe's parking lot.
Uninvited Honoluluans and tourists crowding the cafe's barricaded perimeter angled for views from the outside, while MTV and local television stations covered the action inside.
Rolling Stone later published pics of actor Rob Lowe and members of The Bangles taking the stage with Crowded House to warble "Twist and Shout." The party's other guests — including Tony Curtis and developer Chris Hemmeter — raged until 11 p.m.
IS THAT QUIET RIOT'S 'METAL HEALTH' MASK?
Opening Honolulu cafe rock memorabilia included:
LINE 'EM UP
A full house from opening to closing and long queues of locals and tourists were a mainstay the first few months of business. Famous folks spotted lining up early on included Alice Cooper, actor Michael J. Fox and "Mexican Radio" modern rockers Wall of Voodoo. In August, cafe staffers hand-carried orders of chili and brownies to the Hana retreat of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, who requested delivery several times that month. Jimmy Buffett treated his entire 30-member crew to a post-concert feast/tour wrap party in September. Pro Bowl players Jim Kelly, Bernie Kosar, Marcus Allen and Ronnie Lott dropped by before the all-star football game in February 1988. Cost for a classic burger, salad and fries combo back then? $5.75.
WILL DONATE GUITAR FOR FOOD
Early on, rockers regularly dropped by Hard Rock Honolulu to hand over memorabilia.
In town for a concert in 1987, Bon Jovi's Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora hosted a private party and donated an autographed guitar. Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg gave up a band-autographed guitar at a cafe bachelor party for drummer Tommy Aldridge in early 1988. Others dropping by to lend an ax that year: prog rockers Yes in March, Earth Wind & Fire in May and REO Speedwagon in December.
SAVE THE PLANET
Hard Rock Cafe was one of the first international corporations to adopt a company-wide recycling program and environmental education workshops for employees. The Honolulu cafe has recycled everything it could recycle since opening day.
PASS THE TURKEY
Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu hosted the first of its annual free Thanksgiving dinners for the needy in 1988. It's a tradition cafe employees still volunteer a day off to work.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The cafe launched a tradition of free — and, sadly, now abandoned — New Year's Eve concerts fronted by national acts with a Devo gig in 1988. The Call played 1989; Slaughter followed in 1990. Better Than Ezra, Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind rocked the last of these bashes in 1995, 1996 and 1997, respectively.
NEED A LOCAL BAND?
At Morton's personal request, Kalapana became the first Hawai'i band to play a Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu gig in October 1987. Once noise complaints from neighboring condos settled down, the venue began hosting more local bands. Weeks after the release of his debut CD "Brushfire Fairtytales," a then largely unknown Jack Johnson played one of his first hometown shows at the Honolulu Hard Rock in fall 2001. Other long-gone, long-forgotten and still-here homegrown players that have passed through include Henry Kapono (headlining Hard Rock Honolulu's 1988 first birthday bash), Surf Psycho Sexy, Red Session, Sunburn, Venus Envy, Swinging Johnsons, Cartman's Lunchbox, Deja Voodoo, Hellafied Funk Crew, Makana, the 86 List, Hellbound Hounds, Quadraphonix, Go Jimmy Go, Pimpbot and Tempo Valley.
CLUB NIGHTS
The 'aughts have seen a kitchen full of Hard Rock Honolulu collaborations with local promoters, aimed at luring club kids for late-night live music and DJed parties. Some of the more popular: Stone Groove Family's Rockstar Saturdays (2000) and Fridays (2005), Split 101 (2002-03), Chemistry Lounge (2002).
Some of the less-popular? Anyone remember the idiotically named Humpaskank Wednesdays in 2005?
Sadly, the cafe has often gone months without any parties.
AT LEAST THE ROCK MEMORABILIA IS STILL SWEET
And worth a visit for hungry music fans, even if the only Jon Bon Jovi one overhears these days is his peroxide-enhanced younger self warbling "Living On A Prayer" over the restaurant's booming sound system. The Badass Surf Wall is still there, as is a Keith Moon drum and a beaded purse once clutched by Janis Joplin.
MY FAVORITE?
A collection of autographs from all three Nirvana members, circa the band's one-and-only Honolulu show at Pink's Garage in 1992. I miss Nirvana.
Long live rock!
Reach Derek Paiva at dpaiva@honoluluadvertiser.com.
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