Need weekend plans?
The best things to do around the city, delivered to your inbox.
Here’s how to spend the perfect day in Jamaica Plain
Jon Hetman, communications director at the Arnold Arboretum, takes us through his perfect day in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood.
In Boston.com’s Perfect Day series, we’re talking to a local expert in each of Boston’s 23 neighborhoods about how they’d spend their perfect day. See what makes this city so special to your neighbors, and share your perfect day with us at [email protected].
To spend the day in Jamaica Plain is to enjoy one of Boston’s most community-focused and beautiful neighborhoods. That’s owed in large part to the green spaces that surround it on all sides and create natural gathering spaces for residents of the neighborhood and beyond.
Advertisement:
Jon Hetman, communications director at the Arnold Arboretum, has worked for the nature preserve for 25 years and lived in Jamaica Plain for 30. His commute is a quick walk from Forest Hills through the Arboretum and reminds him each morning how much he loves his neighborhood.
“I moved here 30 years ago, right out of college,” he said. “From the start, I was just really impressed with how diverse the community is. There’s a feeling among the neighbors of a wonderful sense of community, a lovely sense of people respecting one another and really loving this part of town … there’s a sort of dynamic quality here.”
Whether that’s the small business community that keeps the main streets thriving, the tight-knit local music crowd, or the volunteers who keep neighborhood tentpoles like Wake Up the Earth, PorchFest, and JP Open Studios running for years, the local love for Jamaica Plain runs deep.
And as a nature lover, he would be remiss if he didn’t highlight the options to connect with nature without ever leaving the city. The Emerald Necklace, Arnold Arboretum, Franklin Park, and Jamaica Pond are among the public parks that touch JP’s borders.
Advertisement:
“JP just has so much green space and I love all of them. Coming out of a Boston winter, although we didn’t have a bad one this year, spring is always such a welcome time for Bostonians, and especially so in Jamaica Plain,” Hetman said.
In the decades he’s lived in the city, his love of the neighborhood has never wavered. Here’s how he’d spend a perfect day in Jamaica Plain.
Morning | Afternoon | Evening | Map | Share your perfect day in Boston
Morning: Breakfast burritos, Jamaica Pond, and book browsing
For Hetman, Jamaica Plain is at its best in early spring, just as the neighborhood is emerging from a long winter. With all the green spaces in the area, it’s the perfect time to take in the blooming trees. He’ll want to start his morning off with a walk — but first, breakfast with his husband, Craig.
Hetman loves the breakfast at Chilacates, a local Mexican restaurant with two locations in Jamaica Plain. They’re headed to the Centre Street location (658 Centre St.) for the breakfast burrito, a weekend special. If you’re already in the area, Hetman also recommends visitors try the City Feed and Supply (672 Centre St.) just steps away from Chilacates. The neighborhood grocery, café, and deli has great breakfast sandwiches and pastries, according to Hetman.
Advertisement:
But today he’s opting for the breakfast burrito so he can have it on the go as he heads from Centre Street to Jamaica Pond for a leisurely stroll in the early morning light.
“Jamaica Pond is a really wonderful morning walk, particularly. There’s usually people there walking their dogs and getting their day started but I think it’s nice to be there before it gets super crowded,” he said.
From there, it’s back toward Centre and onto South Street to browse the new non-fiction at the Jamaica Plain library branch (30 South St.) and visit some of his favorite shops. Jamaica Plain is home to a host of locally-owned and operated small businesses, many of them favorites among Boston.com’s readership. One of the best, according to Hetman, is the independent bookstore Papercuts Bookshop (60 South St.).
“Papercuts is a great bookstore. They have such amazingly friendly and helpful staff and they always have surprising things to explore in the different book categories that they carry,” he said. “It’s a great store and it’s a place that I really feel good about supporting because I want them to stick around so bad.”
Afternoon: A seafood lunch and the Arnold Arboretum
After a couple hours of walking, it’s time to stop for a bite to eat. If you’re looking for something quick and delicious, Hetman recommends The Real Deal Deli (736 Centre St.), adding, “I like popping in there for a quick slice of pizza, they typically have a bunch of amazing combinations to choose from.”
But for lunch on his perfect day, it’ll be another Jamaica Plain mainstay: JP Seafood Cafe (730 Centre St.). He and his husband will opt for the catch of the day lunchbox or the veggie tempura lunchbox. The family-run restaurant has been in the area since 1996 and “the food is always fantastic,” Hetman said.
Advertisement:
Once they’re through with lunch, it’s the perfect time to visit the Arnold Arboretum (125 Arborway), Jamaica Plain’s “museum of trees.” The nature preserve has one of the world’s most comprehensive collections of eastern North America and eastern Asian flora, plus living collections, an herbarium, a bonsai garden, and educational programs for all ages.
As a decades-long Arboretum employee, Hetman has a particular fondness for this stretch of the Emerald Necklace. He said he loves walking through the 281-acres on his days off because he’s typically working from his desk during the week.
“You can spend his entire afternoon here just walking around, pausing in different areas, sitting on benches, hanging out down by the ponds or on Bussey Hill. It’s just such a rich variety of experiences that you can have in our landscape,” he said.
If you want a more guided experience, Hetman recommends taking a tour led by one of the Arboretum’s experts or downloading their free app for a self-directed tour of the “the maple collection or one of the gardens like the Bradley Rosaceous Collection.”
“It mostly tells us about the Arboretum through personal stories and narratives. There are people from our staff, there are scientists, there are members of the public whose voices are incorporated in the app to tell you about these various parts of the Arboretum and why they’re important and why they’re fascinating,” he said.
Evening: Vintage shopping, a patio meal, and live music
The Arboretum closes at dusk, which gives Hetman and his husband the opportunity to make a quick stop at another beloved local business, 40 South St. Vintage (40 South St.)
Advertisement:
This vintage clothing store has a “hand-picked and rotating selection of the highest quality vintage clothing” from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. The neighborhood gem has been in Jamaica Plain for more than 30 years and is a frequent stop for Hetman.
“I love going in the back room at 40 South because they have vintage jeans and corduroys. And I’m always hopeful that I’ll find something that will fit me although I don’t usually have much luck,” he said, laughing.
If there was one Boston neighborhood to try your hand at snagging a great vintage item, it’s Jamaica Plain, which is also home to a Boomerangs (716 Centre St.), Diversity Consignment (713 Centre St.), and a Goodwill (678 Centre St.). Hetman also suggests a visit to Deep Thoughts JP (138b South St.), where you might get lucky with a used record or curbside freebie.
“I love getting records that might be a little bit more unusual than things that you might typically listen to,” he said.
Come dinnertime, Hetman’s ready to relax at his favorite Boston restaurant, Vee Vee (763 Centre St.) During the warmer months, the restaurant opens its terrace for an outdoor dining experience that Hetman calls “enchanting.”
On the menu for him and his husband is the fish option (currently a seared tuna steak with ponzu, greens, spring veggies, spicy mayo, crispy leeks, furikake) or the Tuesday fried chicken. Further into the summer, his go-to is their take on the lobster roll. “The food is always super fresh and creative and seasonal,” Hetman said.
Another great option for outdoor dining, according to Hetman, is Tres Gatos (470 Centre St.), a combination tapas restaurant, wine bar, record store, and indie bookshop. His favorite dish there is the Spanish prawns, served with zhoug sauce, fried garlic, and cilantro.
Advertisement:
Stomachs full, Hetman and his husband will walk off their meals with another green space stroll. This time, in Forest Hills Cemetery, a century-old landscape he thinks is greatly underrated.
“It is one of the most beautiful garden cemeteries in the country. I feel like it really deserves more people to discover it and enjoy what a remarkable landscape it is,” he said.
By now, the sun has set, but the fun isn’t over in Jamaica Plain. To cap off his perfect day, Hetman and his husband will see a live show at a local music venue. As a music lover and performer (his country-music band Hot Franks plays across Greater Boston), Hetman is well-versed in the local music scene. For a great show, he’ll head to The Midway Café (3496 Washington St.) or The Haven (284 Amory St.).
“The other thing that we love about JP is that there are a couple of places that you can see great bands. It’s really great to get dessert there if we had dinner elsewhere. [That] would be a really great way to wrap up the day in Jamaica Plain,” he said.
Find all of Jon Hetman’s recommended spots below.
Be civil. Be kind.
Read our full community guidelines.