Chapter Analysis: Fire In The Cocoanut Grove

Griffen Sheridan
Mrs. Miller
OSH 310
March 7, 2018

Fire in the Grove

On November 28, 1942, The Cocoanut Grove was one of the most notable night clubs in the country and was one of the many prides of the city of Boston .The fire began in the “Melody Lounge,”a dimly lit basement room, an employee accidently set one of the decorative palm trees on fire with a stray match. The “Grove” was a fire trap with highly flammable decorations, which helped the flames to spread rapidly. Hundreds of the club’s patrons were unable to find nearby exits due to the smoke and strange layout. The people that did find exits were unable to escape, due to the fact that the owner had locked or blocked many of the doors and windows to keep people from sneaking in

He goes into detail about its early speakeasy beginnings and its transfer to Barney Welansky, who was the owner at the time of the fire. It also recounts how all the past owners cared very little for the safety of their patrons, if at all and only cared about their profits. The owner, Barney Welansky, was the lawyer for the original owner, Charles Solomon. The book goes on to describe all of the horrible and unethical shortcuts that Welansky and past owners had gone to increase profits and deter stealing. These shortcuts would tragically be the cause of most of the deaths on the night of November

Esposito especially highlights the at the time mayor, Mr. Tobin. Sadly, out of all those who shared responsibility, the only punishment given to Tobin was a punch in the face from a father who lost his daughter in the fire. Esposito includes these to give the readers a full picture of what happened, and to provide a wrap up to the story. Also, Esposito begins to cover the new laws that were created out of this disaster. Esposito also notes that the Cocoanut Grove Fire wouldn’t have occurred if the existing laws of that time were followed. As a postscript, the author includes a chapter about the Station nightclub fire. It was a club wildly different from the glamourous Cocoanut Grove, but it suffered the same fate. The saddest thing is, the fire occured in 2003, 61 years after the incident at the “Grove.” Within 2 minutes over 90 people died in the fire, most from breathing in toxic gases. Esposito includes this at the very end as a sort of warning. Massive fires aren’t just a thing of the past. Without proper protection and prevention, it is very likely that such a devastating disaster could easily happen