The Improper Bostonian
August 15, 2006
Summer's Coolest Jobs
Liza Weisstuch
Fane Googins
Rooftop Pool Attendant and Certified Lifeguard
The Colonnade Hotel
Fane Googins has seen professional athletes sunbathe and hotel guests who forget swimming trunks get creative with boxer shorts or Victoria's Secret garments. The roof deck on the 12th floor of The Colonnade Hotel is a nano-version of Miami-esque style and sumptuousness, complete with a full bar, an abbreviated menu from Brasserie Jo (on the hotel's ground floor), a Crown surround stereo system, a killer view of Boston and, of course, a pool. While the traffic hurtles and pedestrians pound the pavement on the street far below, bathing beauties bronze their bods, imbibe mojitos and chill in a metropolitan paradise that feels time zones away from the urban blur.
In the midst of this urban oasis is Googins, who's there to ensure that swimmers are safe and loungers have full drinks and fresh lobster rolls. And although the Nantucket-style wooden fences that rim the roof are bright white and the sun reflects off the neighboring, mirrored building on Huntington Ave., there always seems to be a breeze at that altitude.
The pool is open to the publicon weekdays (for a $25 entrance fee), and TV personalities and sports pros are among the locals who regularly drop by for a dip. There's a daily anticipation of who'll be spotted among the hotel guests, many of whom opt for lounging on the roof over sightseeing and shopping.
The scene is a far cry from Googins' previous job as a paralegal in Hawaii. Although she lived only five minutes from the beach outside noon jogs on the shore and picked up surfing as a hobby - she had t ospend most of the day holed up at a desk. So the freckled BC grad returned to Boston in April and became one of eight people selected (from a pool of 80 candidates) to spend Memorial Day through Labor Day up on the roof. It may not be a final destination, but for now she's one of the few in the city whose work is actually hospitable to the season's swelter.
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