The Happy Land fire was an act of arson that killed 87 people on March 25, 1990, in the Bronx in New York City, United States. The 87 victims were trapped in the unlicensed Happy Land social club, located at 1959 Southern Boulevard in the West Farms section of the Bronx. Most victims were young Hondurans celebrating Carnival, many of them part of the Garifuna American community. Cuban refugee Julio González, whose former girlfriend was employed at the club, was arrested soon afterward and ultimately convicted of arson and murder.

The fire was the deadliest in New York City since the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, which coincidentally occurred on the same day in 1911, and the deadliest in American territory since the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire in Puerto Rico in 1986 and the Winecoff Hotel fire in 1946. An eviction trial against Colon had been scheduled to start on March 28, 1990, three days after the fire.

Julio González served three years in prison in Cuba during the 1970s for desertion from the Cuban Army. In 1980, he faked a criminal record as a drug dealer to help gain passage in the Mariel boatlift. At the time of the fire, he was two weeks behind on the rent of his room, and the owner of the boarding house where he was staying said of him: "From what I know, he was down to his last hope."

Eighty-seven people died in the resulting fire. Nineteen bodies were found downstairs; the others upstairs. Six bodies were found within several feet of the front door. Some of those trapped punched a hole through a wall to an adjoining union hall in an attempt to escape. A hundred and fifty firemen responded to the blaze, which was extinguished in five minutes. but later reports gave the number of survivors as five or six.

González was denied parole in March 2015. He would have been eligible to apply for parole again in November 2016,

Landlords and other parties

The Bronx District Attorney said that the building's owner, Alex DiLorenzo III, and leaseholders Weiss and Morris Jaffe, were not responsible criminally, since they had tried to close the club and evict the tenant. Weiss was at the time the husband of actress Kathleen Turner.

Although the Bronx District Attorney said they were not criminally responsible, the New York City Corporation Counsel filed misdemeanor charges in February 1991 against Alex DiLorenzo III, the building owner, and Jay Weiss, the primary leaseholder. These charges claimed that the owner and landlord were responsible for the building code violations caused by their tenant. They both pleaded guilty in May 1992, agreeing to perform community service and paying $150,000 towards a community center for Hondurans in the Bronx.

A $5 billion lawsuit was also filed by the victims and their families against the owner, landlord, city, and some building material manufacturers. That suit was settled in July 1995 for $15.8 million or $163,000 per victim. The lesser amount was due mostly to unrelated financial difficulties of the landlord.

Legacy

The street outside the former Happy Land social club has been renamed "The Plaza of the Eighty-Seven" in memory of the victims. Five victims were students at nearby Theodore Roosevelt High School, which had a memorial service for the victims in April 1990. A memorial was erected directly across the street from the former establishment with the names of all 87 victims inscribed on it.

The plot of the Law & Order season 2 episode "Heaven" was inspired by the Happy Land fire.

Additionally, the band Duran Duran wrote the song "Sin of the City", which appeared on the band's 1993 self-titled album, about the fire.

The song "Happyland" on Joe Jackson's album Night and Day II, released in 2000, was also inspired by this event. In the Jay-Z song "You, Me, Him and Her" he raps "The fire I spit burnt down Happy Land social club, we unapproachable thugs."

In the aftermath of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, California, in December 2016, which killed 36 people, comparisons were drawn to this fire. The Oakland fire also occurred in a space that was being used for parties in violation of law and lease agreement. Investigations of the law and lease agreements were pending at the time of that fire as well.

See also

  • List of accidents and disasters by death toll
  • List of disasters in the United States by death toll
  • List of fires
  • List of building or structure fires
  • List of nightclub fires
  • Blue Bird Café fire, 1972 fire in Montreal also started by ejected patrons lighting gasoline on stairs that served as the only way in or out
  • Denmark Place fire, 1980 fire at illegally operated London club patronized by Caribbean immigrants also started by an angry patron refused admission
  • 2022 Bronx apartment fire, New York City's deadliest fire since this event.

References

  • Crime Library.com: Happy Land fire
  • Bridgeandtunnelclub.com: Photos of the Happy Land Fire Memorial
  • GenDisasters.com: 1990 Happy Land Social Club Fire