Actor and club owner Rio Del Valle Hackford died on Thursday, April 14, from uveal melanoma. He was 51.
Hackford, the son of film director Taylor Hackford, was an integral part of the New Orleans music scene. His father owned properties in New Orleans, including the building that housed The Mint, a bar on the edge of the French Quarter (Decatur and Esplanade, now known as the Balcony Music Club). It was at this location that Hackford opened his first club in New Orleans, El Matador. The Mint had an ornate entrance door featuring a large M etched into the glass. Hackford told OffBeat at the time that he didn’t want to replace the door. He remembered that he had an old painting of a bull and a matador and decided to call the club El Matador, keeping the door with the M and installing the painting in the club. El Matador was used as an on-location set in the biopic Ray, directed by the elder Hackford. When Taylor Hackford sold the building, Hackford and partners Ryan Hesseling and Rio Hackford, Ryan Hesseling and Cory Allen opened a club at the old Toulouse Theater, calling it One Eyed Jacks. Since the pandemic, One Eyed Jacks has moved to the former location of B.B. King’s Blues Club at 1104 Decatur Street.
Hackford also owned Pal’s Lounge in New Orleans as well as several clubs in California: The Homestead Bar in San Francisco and the Monty Bar and El Dorado Bar, both in Los Angeles.
In late August 2005, after Hurricane Katrina and the federal levee failures decimated New Orleans, the distribution of OffBeat’s September issue was delayed until October 2005. OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey and managing editor Joseph Irrera drove around the French Quarter dropping off magazines at the few bars that had reopened. “I’ll never forget what happened when I walked into Molly’s on Decatur,” said Irrera. “As I put OffBeat magazines down on the bar, I got a standing ovation. I remember Rio was standing outside on the curb and thought it was just terrific.”
Hackford also appeared in several films, including Jonah Hex, Swingers, The Mandalorian and in the HBO series Treme. He also directed music videos for a number of acts, including Josh Homme’s Desert Sessions and Corrosion of Conformity.
Business partners Ryan Hesseling (One Eyed Jacks) and Suzanne Accorsi (Pal’s Lounge) posted these tributes:
“The One Eyed Jacks family will deeply miss our brother, partner, life of the party, Rio Hackford, who made an indelible mark on the New Orleans music and bar scene for the past 25 years. Rio meant so much to so many people he was truly one of a kind. We are in the process of planning a remembrance event in New Orleans with his family.”—Ryan Hesseling, co-owner, One Eyed Jacks
“It’s difficult, given the shock of losing Rio, to express what he meant to me. Of course, he was the ‘cool kid,’ the actor, the creepy-handshake guy, and the MC of fun, to so many who knew him, but to me he was something even beyond that. He was another brother (I have three), who listened and helped me deal with death and illness among my parents; hard times in relationships; overwhelming life due to hurricanes, pandemics, financial ups and downs, etc. He was an excellent business partner who, along with Linda Novak (our other partner), brought his unique talents and allowed us to bring ours, to create and foster our beloved Pal’s Lounge, together. It goes without saying that he made business fun, the ideas, the late-night parties (that should have ended far earlier), the music, the mayhem, all of it. He was obviously a strong personality with very specific ideas and tastes, but he appreciated a strong businesswoman too. He was one of the best business partners I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with, and I’ve been doing this for 30+ years! We were always looking forward to the next things we would do at Pal’s, even after 20 years. We still will… I will miss him immensely, there are no words. We will consider it our honor to carry on at Pal’s in his memory and continue to ‘laissez le bon ton rouler’ (he would have punched me for putting that in there, haha, but that’s exactly why I had to do it)! RIP Rio, you truly broke the mold.” —Suzanne Accorsi, co-owner, Pal’s Lounge
Hackford is survived by his wife, musician Libby Grace, and their two children; brother Alex; his mother Georgie Lowres; his father and stepmother actress Helen Mirren.
