Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
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Movie stars. Artificial palm trees. Big band music. The night of November 28, 1942, promised all the glamour and glitz that made Boston’s most famous night spot, The Cocoanut Grove, legendary. That night, about a thousand revelers gathered to drink and dance the night away.
Just hours later, the club would be no more, reduced to a smoldering husk by a five-alarm fire. Nearly 500 people died at The Cocoanut Grove that night in the United States’ most deadly nightclub disaster. The fire was the product of a hardened entrepreneur’s greed—but for years, a young bus boy would bear the blame.
By the time of the fire, The Cocoanut Grove was a Boston institution. Singer Mickey Alpert and bandleader Jacques Renard had opened the club near Boston’s theater district in 1927, at the heyday of live music and theater. Despite the club’s prime location, it was a risky proposition. It was the height of Prohibition in the United States, and alcohol was banned. But Alpert and Renard were convinced that great music and live acts would bring people to the club even though it didn’t serve alcohol, and insisted that the club adhere to the strict liquor laws of the day.
The Tragic Story of America’s Deadliest Nightclub Fire
I have never heard of this place.
Just hours later, the club would be no more, reduced to a smoldering husk by a five-alarm fire. Nearly 500 people died at The Cocoanut Grove that night in the United States’ most deadly nightclub disaster. The fire was the product of a hardened entrepreneur’s greed—but for years, a young bus boy would bear the blame.
By the time of the fire, The Cocoanut Grove was a Boston institution. Singer Mickey Alpert and bandleader Jacques Renard had opened the club near Boston’s theater district in 1927, at the heyday of live music and theater. Despite the club’s prime location, it was a risky proposition. It was the height of Prohibition in the United States, and alcohol was banned. But Alpert and Renard were convinced that great music and live acts would bring people to the club even though it didn’t serve alcohol, and insisted that the club adhere to the strict liquor laws of the day.
The Tragic Story of America’s Deadliest Nightclub Fire
I have never heard of this place.
It was a well-known speakeasy during Prohibition. That's why so many exits had been bolted shut for years and years, which led to so many deaths when the cheap-ass fake palm trees caught fire.
