Boston’s Inferno 11/28/1942

By: Patrick Maguire

Book Chapter: Human-to-Human Service

Posted: 11/29/2009

Lauren Clark, a fellow Boston blogger, published a post last week, Remembering Cocoanut Grove, commemorating the 67th anniversary of the horrible tragedy in which 492 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded. I encourage you to read Lauren’s post and all of the links and comments associated with it.  Lauren’s blog is also an excellent resource for “Bars, Bartenders and Imbibing in Beantown.”

After reading Lauren’s post, I realized I didn’t know enough about such an important chapter of Boston’s history. On Saturday I walked over to Piedmont Street in Boston’s Bay Village neighborhood to find a brass plaque memorializing the fire. The plaque is lodged into the brick sidewalk diagonally across the street from 24 Piedmont Street behind  erbaluce restaurant. As I turned the corner onto Piedmont Street, a group of tourists coming towards me crossed right over the plaque without pause, unaware of the sacred grounds upon which they were walking. Strangely enough, the enscription on the bottom of the plaque reads, “Phoenix out of the Ashes.”

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There is also a mention on the lower-left  side about the plaque’s craftsman;

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Anthony Marra is mentioned in Stephanie Schorow’s book, The Cocoanut Grove Fire, and also in John C. Esposito’s book, Fire in the Grove.

From page 25 of The Cocoanut Grove Fire: “Busboy Tony Marra found clean air by opening a freezer and sticking his head into an empty ice-cream bucket. Then he heard a clang, and he raced into the walk-in refrigerator, where about 15 people had crammed themselves in. He pounded on the door screaming: Please let me in, I’m only fifteen years old. He heard only, Get out of here, kid, there’s no room left. Marra dashed back into the kitchen, where he spotted a window between steam pipes and, smashed the glass, wiggled to safety, maple walnut ice cream dripping from his hair.”

From page 79 of Fire in the Grove: “Little Anthony Marra, a fifteen-year-old bar boy, stuck his face into a large container of ice cream–reported to be maple walnut–to cool his burning face and give himself time to plan his escape.”

I tried all conventional methods of researching Anthony Marra’s life after he crafted the plaque, but have had no luck so far. (11/30/09 Update: I received an email back from Stephanie Schorow indicating that Anthony Marra had passed away before she had an opportunity to interview him.)

The stories and interviews about the fire are fascinating to read. Here are a few, in addition to the links in the DrinkBoston post, that I recommend;

The full text of Report concerning the Cocoanut Grove fire, November 28, 1942 by William Arthur Reilly, Boston Fire Commissioner: http://www.archive.org/stream/reportconcerning00bost/reportconcerning00bost_djvu.txt

The Melrose Mirror Features 2002 by Russ Priestley: http://melrosemirror.media.mit.edu/servlet/pluto?state=3030347061676530303757656250616765303032696430303436363035

The Watertown Press & Tab 2007: Fireman remembers the Cocoanut Grove by Jillian Fennimore: http://www.wickedlocal.com/watertown/news/x281678494

Here’s to remembering all of the workers and customers who died or were injured on that horrific weekend 67 years ago. Also, here’s to all of the Firefighters, Police Officers, EMT’s, Hospital Workers, Military Personnel and civilians who rescued and treated as many lives as they could on that fateful night.

I welcome your stories and tributes.



4 Responses to “Boston’s Inferno 11/28/1942”

  1. boston restaurant guy says:

    Well there went my chance of getting to bed early tonight!
    Just spent the past hour reading all of this fascinating material on the Coconut Grove.
    Humbling that after a life time of Boston residency I had no idea it took place in Bay Village.
    The official City of Boston Fire Department report was stunning. Sad to think of all the lost lives those officially written paragraphs represented.
    Great reading.

  2. Joseph Conceison says:

    This tragedy would have claimed countless more lives if not for the stunning football upset that afternoon by Holy Cross over Boston College. Many BC fans did not show up for their planned “victory party” that saturday evening! I read “Fire in the Grove” about a year ago and found it very informative. This disaster led to a multitude of changes in fire codes, restaurant licensing, medical treatments of burn victims, etc.. Joe C.

  3. David Frost says:

    When the Cocoanut Grove tragedy happened, it was my Grandfather’s – Paul Frost, first week as a Boston Firefighter and his station was the second on the scene. He never liked talking about that fire and would always just say it was really bad.

  4. Helen Lynch says:

    Greetings,
    Perhaps someone can tell me how contractors and people who own
    property have the authority to remove a plaque honoring those poor souls. How can people be so insensitive. People choose to live where they can afford. But that should not give them the right to change the placement of historical markers, because they are annoyed about the foot traffic. “TUFF DARTS!!! LET THEM MOVE.

    Thank you in advance and all the work that you do. My father lost a relative at the Coconut Grove. He was fighting in the Pacific in WWII.

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