“When we walked through the door of the London cafe for the first time, I said, ‘Yeah, this is for me,’ ” said Dave, a retired bus mechanic who sports a Hard Rock Cafe tattoo on his arm.

Hard Rock Cafe’s giant V guitar’s neon lights will glow no more in River North. The restaurant and repository of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, at 63 W. Ontario St., permanently closed Saturday.