Cocoanut Grove fire
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The Cocoanut Grove was a night club in Boston, Massachusetts, owned by Barney Welansky, a man who boasted of his ties to the Mafia and the Boston Mayor's Office. On November 28, 1942, the fashionable nightclub burned in what remains the deadliest nightclub fire in United States history, killing 492 people and injuring hundreds more. It was also the second-worst single-building fire in American history. Only the Iroquois Theater fire in Chicago in 1903 killed more (602). The tragedy shocked the Nation and briefly replaced World War II news headlines. The fire led to a reform of fire codes and safety standards across the country.
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The fire
On the evening of the 28th the club, a former speakeasy, located at 17 Piedmont Street in what is now Boston's Bay Village neighborhood, was filled with 1,000 occupants. The club had recently been extended in size with the addition of a lounge which opened onto an adjacent street. The official capacity was around 460. Decorated in a Casablanca tropical style, the restaurant, bars, and lounges inside were decorated with romantic but flammable paper palm trees, cloth drapes covering the ceiling, flammable furniture, and other flimsy decorations which obscured exit signs.
Official reports state the fire began downstairs in the club's intimate, dark Melody Lounge around 10:15 p.m. An artificial palm tree caught fire when 16-year-old busboy Stanley Tomaszewski struck a match for illumination while replacing a light bulb near the base of the tree. It was believed that a soldier had removed the bulb in order to give him privacy in the dark while kissing his date. At any rate, the fire quickly spread along the fronds of the palm tree, igniting nearby decorations on the walls and ceiling, despite efforts by waiters to throw water on it. Flames raced up the stairway to the main level, feeding on oxygen and burning the hair of patrons who were stumbling up the stairs. A fireball burst across the central dance floor just as the orchestra was beginning its evening show. Flames raced through the adjacent "Caricature Bar," and then headed down a corridor to the "New Lounge." Within five minutes the entire nightclub was ablaze.
The building's main entrance was a single revolving door, immediately rendered useless as the panicked crowd scrambled for safety. Bodies piled up behind the jammed door, which firefighters had to dismantle in order to get inside. Other avenues of escape were similarly useless: side doors had been welded shut to prevent people from leaving without settling their bills. A plate glass window which could have been smashed for escape was instead boarded up and useless as an emergency exit. Other unlocked doors opened inwards; fire officials later testified that had the doors swung outwards, at least 300 lives could have been spared. Many young soldiers perished in the disaster. Two of the victims were a married couple whose wedding had taken place earlier that day.
The aftermath
Boston newspapers were filled with lists of the dead and stories of narrow escapes and deaths. It was erroneously reported that Hollywood movie star Buck Jones had made it safely outside, but died two days later in the hospital. In fact, Jones had fallen where he sat in the prime "Terrace" area which was behind a wrought iron railing that acted as a trap. Stories claimed that Buck had gone back in to rescue people. In truth, he had been incapacitated at his seat and would linger in the hospital for some hours before dying. Similarly, Coast Guardsman Clifford Johnson had gone back in no fewer than four times in search of his date who, unbeknownst to him, had already safely escaped. Johnson suffered extensive third-degree burns over 50% of his body but survived the disaster, spending 10 months convalescing in Boston City Hospital. Ironically, years later he would burn to death in a fiery auto crash in his home state of Missouri. The undefeated Boston College football team had made victory party reservations at the club that evening, but canceled after an upset loss to Holy Cross dampened their spirits.
In the year that followed the fire, Massachusetts and other states began to enact laws for public establishments which banned flammable decorations and inward-swinging exit doors, required exit signs to be visible at all times, and stated that revolving doors used for egress must be flanked by at least one normal, outward swinging door. Barney Welansky, whose connections had allowed the nightclub to operate even while in violation of the loose standards of the day, was convicted on nineteen counts of manslaughter (nineteen victims were randomly selected to represent the dead). Welansky was sentenced to twelve to fifteen years in prison. He served nearly 4 years before being quietly pardoned by Governor Maurice Tobin, the man who had been mayor of Boston at the time of the fire. The young busboy Tomaszewski, who had survived the fire and testified at the inquiry, was exonerated, as he was not the one responsible for the flammable decorations or the safety code violations.
In 1997, the case was reopened. It was determined that the flash fire was caused by methyl chloride coming from a faulty refrigerator near the Melody Lounge.
For decades it was believed that by order of the Boston Licensing Board, no Boston establishment may again call itself the Cocoanut Grove. This is a myth, as no law or regulation on this subject exists.
The lessons of the Cocoanut Grove fire would eventually be forgotten by some people who operated nightclubs. In 1977 the crowded "Beverly Hills Supper Club" in suburban Cincinnati would burn and kill 165 persons, largely due to poor enforcement of fire safety codes already enacted into law. In 2003 another 100 persons would die while trying to exit the same door they entered at "The Station" club in Rhode Island.
References
- Benzaquin, Paul, Holocaust! The shocking story of the Boston Cocoanut Grove fire (1959) No ISBN available, but Library of Congress Control Number is 59014396.
- Schorow, Stephanie, The Cocoanut Grove Fire (2005) ISBN 1889833886.
- Keyes, Edward, Cocoanut Grove (1984) ISBN 0689114060.
- Esposito, John, Fire in the Grove: The Cocoanut Grove Tragedy And Its Aftermath (2005) ISBN 0306814234.