The Cocoanut Grove was Boston's premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 1940s. On November 28, 1942, this club was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in US history, killing 492 people (which was 32 more than the building's authorized capacity) and injuring hundreds more. It was also the second-worst single-building fire in American history; only the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago had a higher death toll, of 602.
The enormity of the tragedy shocked the nation and briefly replaced the events of World War II in newspaper headlines. In both fires, most of those who lost their lives would have survived had the existing safety codes been fully enforced. The tragedy led to a reform of safety standards and codes across the country, and major changes in the treatment and rehabilitation of burn victims.
3 comments:
What amazes me about the Coconut Grove is that it didn't happen sooner. Paper Palm Trees?
I have a dear friend who has studied the tragedy, mostly from the medical angle. The primitive state of burn care prior to the fire and the strides that were made in the few years after are perhaps the only good thing about the gruesome event.
That connection is one reason that I'm always sizing up exits and sometimes refuse to stay in some dodgy joints. I remember feeling incredibly uncomfortable in an otherwise quite cozy Paris bar once, deep underground in its catacomb/sub-basement dance-floor level, thinking of the single snaking staircase we'd all ahve to use to get out...
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