Peter Morton
| Peter Morton | |
|---|---|
 Morton in 2011 |
Peter Morton (born Chicago in 1947) 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. His former stepdaughter was Domino Harvey, who was the subject of the October 2005 film Domino starring Keira Knightley and directed by Tony Scott. Morton is a graduate of the University of Denver, where he was a member of the Phi Sigma Delta fraternity.
Morton's first Hard Rock Cafe opened near Hyde Park Corner in London, England. The chain began global expansion in 1982 when the two agreed to develop their own cafes across the world. Morton (Hard Rock America) opened Hard Rocks in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston, Las Vegas; San Diego, La Jolla, and Newport Beach, California; Sydney and Melbourne, Australia; Honolulu and Maui, Hawaii; among many others.
He is the godfather of film producer Matthew Vaughn, and introduced him to a Hard Rock Cafe tour. It was through Peter, that Matthew was introduced to Guy Ritchie and some well known aristocrats in the London area.
In 1995, The Rank Organisation (now The Rank Group) acquired the cafes owned by Morton for $410 million, but Morton retained the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.
In May 2006, Morton sold the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to New York-based Morgans Hotel Group for $770 million. The sale included the rights to the Hard Rock Hotel brand West of the Mississippi River which includes Texas, California, Australia and Vancouver, British Columbia. W. Edward Scheetz, a Morgans’ executive, described the 11-story, 670-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, ranked #1 of the top 10 hotel pools by Travel Channel, occupies land valued at $50 million.
Morton later founded and remains the owner one of Los Angeles’ quintessential dining power spots — Morton’s (not to be confused with Morton's of Chicago). For almost two decades, the ability to get a table at The Ivy or Morton's has defined the level of importance and clout a person possesses in Hollywood. The restaurant was also the subject of Julia Phillips' 1991 book, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again.
From 2007-summer 2010, Morton dated supermodel Linda Evangelista. Evangelista already had an infant son named Augustin, from a previous relationship. Evangelista was seen with a diamond ring on her engagement finger in late 2009. In October 2010, it was reported that the two had split in September 2010.
[edit] Honors, awards, positions
Morton is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA)[1] and sits on the board of trustees for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)[2].
After Morton made a generous donation to UCLA, the building at 200 UCLA Medical Plaza was renamed the Peter Morton Medical Building[3].
[edit] References
- ^ "The Museum of Contemporary Art Board of Trustees". http://www.moca.org/museum/us_popup_people_trustees.php. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
- ^ "About NRDC: Board of Trustees". http://www.nrdc.org/about/board.asp. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
- ^ Moster, Roxanne (November 20, 2003). "Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Owner Peter Morton Makes Significant Donation; 200 UCLA Medical Plaza Renamed the Peter Morton Medical Building". UCLA Newsroom (University of California at Los Angeles). http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Hard-Rock-Hotel-and-Casino-Owner-4739.aspx. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
