SOUTHGATE, Ky. — Members of the Southgate community in northern Kentucky are remembering the lives lost in a fire in 1977. Known as the Beverly Hill Supper Club Fire, the community unveiled a memorial this weekend as a tribute.

Wayne Dammert says he got started working at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in 1957. “I met my wife there. That was when we were both working for the mafia. She was a dancer, rockette and all that. We’ve been married 64 years,” Dammert shared.

Twenty years after he started, Dammer was at work when he heard the words that spurred him into action.

“‘There’s a fire in the room.’ What?? You see down the hall coming around, that’s all smoke. Yeah there is a fire,” he explained. So I started yelling, ‘Get out the back! Get out the back!’”

That was 46 years ago this Sunday.

“It was a big part of my life. A big part of my life and not just that night,” he reflected.

It was a fire that took over 100 lives. And it’s a night that Dammert and the community remember well.

Officials say the tragedy prompted new rules and regulations regarding fire safety in buildings.

On Sunday, Southgate community members gathered as the city dedicated a memorial in honor of the lives lost in the tragic fire.

“We will never forget,” said Southgate Mayor Jim Hamberg. “And we never will forget. I pray this memorial will give the families, friends and coworkers peace and a place to come to remember those that we lost 46 years ago.”

Dammert is glad to see the city make use of the space once again and thinks it’s a fitting tribute for those who died.

City officials say the memorial site will be a city park and will work to maintain it into the future.