Golden Media Group – 101.5 FM, 103.5 FM, 93.5 FM & AM 1310 WDXI visited with Jada Slayton, RE/MAX Realty Source, for a Question & Answer session about the time she became the FIRST manager in the history of a Hard Rock Café in the United States.

Located in the Old Hickory Mall it was – at the time – only the second Hard Rock Café in the world.

The Hard Rock Café opened at the mall 42 years ago – January 29, 1983.

The first was in London, England, and was opened by Jackson native Isaac Tigrett and his business partner, Peter Morton.

Question: First, a little background information – where are you originally from, family, education and career?

Answer: I’m from Bells, TN., and moved to Jackson when I was six. I attended Rose Hill Elementary for two years, then Whitehall for two, then to the new school Parkview Elementary, Jackson Jr. High for grades seven through nine before graduating from Jackson High School.

I received a professional basketball scholarship from Nashville Business College, when Mr. H. O. Ball came to our house, and I signed up. I could live with a family or live in the YWCA, so I chose a family – since I’m one of six children, I prefer a family setting. After six months of business college in the morning and practicing ball all afternoon, I decided that I loved basketball but not sure about professional ball. 

We were training for a trip to play in Japan, but I came home around Christmas and started to work at Woolworths for the holidays. My family – and I – were members of Parkview Baptist Church for many years and Bill and Wilma Alexander were members as well. The Alexanders did not have any children but found out when she was in her mid-forties that she was expecting. Wilma worked for Bill at Alexander Motors, and she contacted me to see if I would like to work for Bill, because she would not be able to work in that she was going on bed rest because of her age.

They had a healthy boy, named Mark, who had worked at Bellevue since he graduated from college. I worked for Alexander Motors for around eight years and at that time, they were selling Studebakers, Edsel’s and Mercedez Benz. After that I went to work for the State Department of Education under Mr. Horace Colvett for seven years.  

My husband worked across the hall from Dr. Woody Forbes, an orthodontist, and he talked to Bob and myself about going into business together, which we did at the mall in 1972 – it was open air in 1967 and was enclosed in 1978. We opened the Swiss Colony Cheese Shoppe and closed it down in 1992 but still had the kiosk in front of Kirkland’s for five additional years. I closed the store down (because) the mall was moving everyone that had anything to do with food to the food court and that would have been a major investment. 

We contacted Swiss Colony, and we were advised not to make the move, in that, they would not be opening any new stores for they were going to mail order only, so we took their advice.

I got my real estate license in 1992 and went to work at Real Estate Now but after seven- or eight years, I came to work with Re/Max Realty Source and bought into the business in 1993 and I’m still here and still producing and still loving it!

Question: Would you tell us how it came to be that you would manage the first Hard Rock Cafe in the United States and only the second in the world?

Answer: Ms. (Frances) Tigrett came to me and said that Isaac (Tigrett, her son) needed my location along with the Leather Shop that adjoined the Pretzel Shop and that Isaac needed to open a store very quickly in order to protect his part of the U.S. because his partner, Peter Morton, was opening a Hard Rock in California for it seemed that time was of the essence. I thought maybe the Old Hickory Mall’s Hard Rock would just be the beginning in that Isaac would open a larger restaurant that would accommodate more people but that never happened. Ms. Tigrett did give me stock in Hard Rock.

Question: Do you remember how long the restaurant was inside the Old Hickory Mall, and can you recall your thoughts when it was announced it was closing?

Answer: The Hard Rock opened January 29, 1983 and closed about two-and-a-half years later. We all thought that Isaac would bring some of his fame back to his hometown of Jackson by building a full-blown Hard Rock Café.This would have been a treasure for all of us who grew up here and knew the family so well. That would have made us even prouder of Isaac for we all knew and loved Isaac’s business philosophy … based on the principles of love, peace, truth, righteousness and nonviolence.

This (said) a lot about Isaac’s character and why he has been so successful in everything he has done.

Question: Considering how popular Hard Rock Cafe is worldwide, do you ever think about a unique time in the 1980s when it was at the Old Hickory Mall, and how many have you personally visited?

Answer: Whenever I travel, I will find a Hard Rock and will eat and buy something to bring back home to show that I have been, in fact, I was fortunate to go to Barcelona, Spain with a group a couple of years ago and we went to the Hard Rock in Barcelona. We Jacksonians almost feel like we own part of the Hard Rocks all over the world since Isaac grew up here and we have all known his mom, Frances, matter of fact, I worked with her at the mall for many years along with Cousin Tuny (Doris Freeman) when she was there as the mall manager. Frances and her brother, Judge Tomlin and a Mr. Engle, I believe owned the Old Hickory Mall for many years. What fun that was!

Question: Was there a desire to stay in the restaurant business after the Hard Rock Cafe closed at the mall, and what motivated you to pursue a career in real estate?

Answer: The Swiss Colony Cheese Shoppe was great. I had the prettiest Swiss Misses and Mr.’s giving out samples, making conversation and making some lifetime friends for we had many repeat customers that loved our shop. It was unique and everyone who worked there was so happy and accommodating – those years were some of the best for me.

Another fun thing that we did, and we would only do on Saturdays, would be to sell our Bavarian sausages called bratwurst. People would drive for miles just to get bratwurst with sweet hot mustard.

But no, I have never had a desire to stay in the restaurant business for that is a business that is very demanding, and the food has to be excellent ALL of the time. Real estate had always been a passion of mine so I knew I would pursue this avenue rather than the restaurant business.

(PHOTO: Jada Slayton. original awning of Hard Rock Cafe in Jackson, which is now at the Carnegie Center for Arts and History, 305 E. College Street in Jackson)

(PHOTO inside story – Hard Rock Cafe at mall, Isaac Tigrett is at right)