A Place to Be Merry
Where some of Boston’s most high-pressure workers go to unwind.

By Blythe Copeland

Photos by Diana Levine

1. Good Times Emporium, Somerville
Jackson Cannon
Bar Manager at Eastern Standard
“After 13 hours of serving hundreds of people, I’m too amped up to go home and go to bed. When I get to leave work early—maybe every other Saturday—I like to go to Good Times Emporium in Somerville. I’ll play video games or pool by myself, have a little whiskey and a bottle of light beer, play some Skee-Ball. A little bit of rooting for my Keno numbers, and I’m relaxed. I don’t have to relate to anyone. Nobody knows my name there—that’s why I go.”

2. Chappaquiddick, Martha’s Vineyard
Martha Smith-Blackmore
Medical Services Director at Animal Rescue League
“My husband and I take our dogs to Martha’s Vineyard. We go out to the wooded areas up-island, or out to Chappaquiddick. We call it ‘dogs’ weekend’: They have such regimented lives, and here they can be off-leash and splash in the water. Then we go four-wheeling on the dunes. I don’t bring my phone and I don’t bring my computer. I pretend I wouldn’t be able to find a connection anywhere.”

3. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
Emma Roberts
Owner of Capers Catering
“I work about 80 hours a week, as many as six parties a day. With catering you need to put forth all you have, because people are often hiring your service for a very important day in their lives. I really enjoy the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. I go and have a cup of tea and imagine Isabella Stewart Gardner in there. It’s so interesting to see what her vision was, and her taste, through the gardens and the artwork.”

4. The Middlesex Fells Reservation
Carol Tienken
Chief Operating Officer of Greater Boston Food Bank
“At the food bank, my day job is about running the operation; in addition, I’m project-managing our new 110,000-square-foot building that we hope to finish in 2008. I’ve turned gray doing this. For a break, I go snowshoeing in the Fells, for that peacefulness, that sort of getting back to basics, just breathing fresh air and clearing your head.”

5. IMAX Theater, Museum of Science
Sal Lizard
Owner of Genuine Santa
“As a professional Santa, I work every day in November and December. There’s only one of me, and I don’t like having to tell people I can’t make it to their party. Whenever I have free time, I go to the Museum of Science. My grandpa taught me you should learn something new every day. I like the room with the electrostatic stuff—what boy doesn’t like to see sparks? I also enjoy the IMAX. The only problem there is that sometimes I get too relaxed and fall asleep.”

For four weekend escapes, go on to the next page...