Upstairs Lounge Fire Memorial — 1973

Luther Boggs answered a buzzer at 7:56 pm on June 24, 1973, expecting a taxi driver. He opened the door to find the staircase engulfed in flames, the smell of lighter fluid rising with the smoke. Behind him, roughly 60 to 90 patrons remained in the UpStairs Lounge after the beer bust ended — a gay bar on the second floor at 604 Iberville Street. Pianist Bud Matyi had been playing. People were talking about an MCC fundraiser for the local Crippled Children's Hospital. Members of the Metropolitan Community Church, a pro-LGBT Protestant denomination, were there after service; the local congregation had held services in the UpStairs Lounge's theatre. Bartender Buddy Rasmussen led twenty patrons out a back exit to the roof, then across to a neighboring building and down. The others were accidentally locked inside. One man squeezed through a 14-inch gap in the window bars, then fell to his death while burning. Reverend Bill Larson of the MCC clung to the bars of one window until he died, his charred remains visible to onlookers for hours. Firefighters stationed two blocks away were blocked by cars and pedestrian traffic. Twenty-eight people died at the scene of the 16-minute fire. One died en route to the hospital. Boggs died 16 days later from third-degree burns to 50 percent of his body. Thirty-two people died. Fifteen were injured. Until the 2016 Pulse attack, this was the deadliest attack on a gay club in U.S. history. Many churches refused to hold funerals. Reverend William P. Richardson of St. George's Episcopal Church held a small prayer service on June 25; approximately 80 people attended. The next day, the Episcopal bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana rebuked him. Several families did not step forward to claim bodies. Anonymous individuals paid for burials; three unknown men and another victim, Ferris LeBlanc, were buried in a mass grave at Holt Cemetery. LeBlanc's family would not learn of his death until January 2015. No government officials or major religious figures mentioned the fire for days, if not weeks. The only suspect, Roger Dale Nunez, had been ejected from the bar earlier that evening after fighting with another customer. A friend later told investigators Nunez confessed on at least four occasions to starting the fire — said he squirted the bottom steps with Ronsonol lighter fluid from a local Walgreens and tossed a match. Nunez died by suicide in November 1974. The case closed in 1980. In 2003, a memorial plaque was placed in the sidewalk on Chartres Street, finally naming the victims. In 2013, Archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond issued a statement of regret that his predecessor and the local church leadership had ignored the arson attack. In April 2024, the plaque was stolen. In June 2025, on the eve of the 52nd anniversary, it was replaced. The bar is gone. The plaque is small and deliberate. Look for it on the Chartres sidewalk below where people died at the windows.