What can you tell me about the original Friday's?

I recently went with some friends to this noisy bar/restaurant called t.g.i. Friday’s. I see them all over the place, even in airports. Predictable food, crummy wine list, lots of families with kids. I had never actually been in one. It was OK since I was with friends.

I wondered if t.g.i. was somebody’s initials and I got a brief history from one of my friends. He said it came from TGIF, which is an acronym that I am familiar with (always, a slow study, I did not make the connection).
Anyway, he said it started as a bar in Manhattan in the 60s and went from there. It apparently was not a family restaurant back then.

I am sort of intrigued by the sixties and seventies-I love Beatles music, and I can never get over how generally strange every body looks with long scraggly hair and beards and mustaches, and clothes that look like costumes, etc. (Not making a moral judgement by the way- I am sure if I was transported back there right now, people would think I looked strange). Plus, I love New York.

So my question is, what was the original t.g.i. Fridays’s like? Were any of you actually there? If it was not a family place, was it like a sports bar? Was the food any good?