"Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire" by Ron Elliott

I had SOME familiarity with the Beverly Hills Supper Club fire, but not much.  It really happened before my time, but I have spent a lot of days roughly in the area where it occurred.

I was pretty excited to pick up the book, "Inside the Beverly Hills Supper Club Fire" by Ron Elliott.  Most of the volume seems to be the story of Wayne Dammert, who worked there for years before the fire AND he was there the night of the actual burning.  The fire took the lives of 167 people.

Wayne's story is interesting even before the club's most notable moment, as he rubs elbows with various celebrities and interesting characters who stop by the club.  He meets his future wife there as she works as a dancer.

Of course, the heart of the book involves hearing Wayne's first hand account of what he was doing before, during and after the club burned.

Author Ron Elliott also includes the stories of others at the end of the book.  Various Beverly Hills workers, patrons, and family members tell about their involvement, and how the fire affected them.

I am WAY late on getting around to reading this one...  It came out in the mid 90s....  But I am glad that I got around to it!