On Saturday, November 28, 1942, the Cocoanut Grove nightclub in the South End near the Theater District in Boston caught fire, leading to the death of nearly 500 people. On that night, the nightclub was packed to twice its legal capacity when a fire started in a downstairs lounge and spread with frightening speed throughout the building. Many people were trapped when the main entrance, a revolving door, jammed. Now considered one of Boston's greatest fire tragedies, the Cocoanut Grove inferno led to major changes in safety codes, burn treatment, and manslaughter law.

On this evening, Stephanie Schorow, author of Boston on Fire: A History of Fire and Firefighting in Boston, will discuss the haunting legacy of the Cocoanut Grove Fire. Through an illustrated presentation, Schorow will discuss the history of the club, and the fire and its aftermath, show newly discovered photos and other material, and explore various theories about the cause of the fire.

Stephanie Schorow is a long-time Boston-area writer with a love of local history and a reporter's nose for finding stories off the beaten track. She has written books on Boston's history, including The Cocoanut Grove Fire, Boston On Fire: A History of Fire and Firefighting in Boston, The Crime of the Century: How the Brink's Robbers Stole Millions , and Hearts of Boston and East of Boston: Notes from the Harbor Islands. She was the editor of Boston's Fire Trail: A Walk Through the City's Fire and Firefighting History, which was produced by the Boston Fire Historical Society, based on her idea. Ms. Schorow has a degree in journalism from Northwestern University, and for 12 years was a reporter and feature writer for the Boston Herald. In 2005, she launched her own freelance writing business and is a frequent contributor to the Boston Globe, Harvard Gazette, the MIT News Service, and numerous other publications.

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