Peter Morton (born Chicago in 1946) 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.
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.
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 and Casino in Las Vegas.
In May 2006, Morton sold the Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel to New York based Morgans Hotel Company for $770 million along with the rights to the Hard Rock Hotel brand west of the Mississippi River, including 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.
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