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“The impacts of Cocoanut Grove are already forever enshrined in the regulations, safety practices, the innovations and knowledge that have already saved countless lives,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said.
Community members gathered near Statler Park to honor the 81st anniversary of the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire on Sunday, which claimed nearly 500 lives and forever changed fire safety practices. A new memorial, which survivors and victims’ families say is long overdue, is set to open next year.
The Cocoanut Grove nightclub in downtown Boston was packed on Nov. 28, 1942 with about a thousand people crowding the popular spot, more than double the legal occupancy. When a paper decoration caught on fire, the blaze quickly spread, ultimately killing 492 people.
The victims have since been honored with a plaque at the site of the club at 17 Piedmont Street near the Park Square theatre district, but at Sunday’s event, the Cocoanut Grove Memorial Committee broke ground on the new memorial with three 11-foot arches – a replica of the nightclub’s entrance.
“Now, with this memorial, all the people who lost their lives and those who survived and all of their loved ones will have a place not to avoid, but rather a place to remember and reflect,” said Lesley Kaufman, whose mother is one of the two remaining survivors of the fire.
The fire, still the deadliest nightclub fire in history, changed U.S. fire safety codes. The fatalities were so high in part because six of the club’s nine exit doors were locked and the revolving doors got stuck.
The deadly blaze resulted in new regulations requiring revolving doors to be accompanied by standard, outward-opening doors in similar venues. At the time, the NFPA said Boston’s building laws were in a “chaotic condition.”
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu was at Sunday’s event, along with Fire Commissioner Paul Burke, City Council President Ed Flynn, and former Mayor Ray Flynn. The memorial will also honor the first responders who responded to the blaze.
“The impacts of Cocoanut Grove are already forever enshrined in the regulations, safety practices, the innovations and knowledge that have already saved countless lives,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said.
The memorial, which will include the name of each victim etched on granite, is set to officially open in September 2024.
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