A local business offers “destruction therapy,” a place where breaking an object is a moment of joy.

The clock is ticking. You have minutes to destroy and break what’s around you: Televisions, glass bottles, dishes and an old washing machine. So many thoughts go through your mind, but they are not your usual questions. Should I use a baseball bat or a pry bar? Start knocking down metal or smashing bottles against the wall? The music, the time rush, the clank, clinks, and smashes you are producing every time you hit or throw an object locks you in a crushing mode.

The best part is the emotional crescendo, shrapnel flying around like confetti. The desire to pulverize what’s in front of you transforms from a feeling of uncertainty to one of confidence in a couple of minutes – the time you are enclosed in this room full of junk.

The Break Room – the place where you can have this experience – is a relatively new business in Monterey and the first of its kind in Monterey County. It claims to be the place for “destruction therapy,” where people can release their stress and destroy negative feelings, from a bad day to a breakup to the impacts of a toxic work environment.

Long-time friends Ted Melicia and Justin McClain, both construction workers, came up with the idea in August 2020, during the height of the pandemic. “The only way for anybody to have any sort of success is to try,” McClain says. “Just like having kids or any major decision in life, you hesitate, you wait, you wait. Someone else is going to do it first. We wanted to be the first.”

It started as a mobile operation, but that proved challenging. They faced the ever-changing Covid-19 restrictions and the long hours – six or more – to set up and disassemble the mobile break room. So in January, they opened in a fixed location on Lighthouse Avenue.

The place has three rooms. Two are break rooms and one is a paint splatter room (where people engage in a balloon war and get covered with paint that glows in the dark). There are murals on some of the walls painted by local artists from La Neta Murals, depicting sea life and cartoons from Looney Tunes. The Break Room offers different individual and group packages ranging from five to 15 minutes; depending on the package, you will get a small or large box of goods. People can also bring their own stuff. For those who want their moment of rage on camera, they offer cell phone video. In the future they will have a camera system installed in the rooms.

For Melicia and McClain, being in The Break Room is another day of work. “We’ve basically been doing it for over 10 years, smashing stuff – just not as a business, it was just as a construction crew,” Melicia says.

Despite the name and the boxes of destroyed objects, McClain says the business model goes beyond smashing stuff. “We’re trying to tell everybody, we’re more than just breaking things,” he says. “It’s a rage room, yeah. But we’re a place that is a safe place.” Screaming and crying could be part of the experience. “You can come here and it’s judgment-free,” McClain adds.

Besides the murals, the other things that stand out are the inventory and the safety equipment lined up on the walls. Since both men worked in construction, safety is key to having fun. “We’ve always stressed safety as the number one priority,” Melicia emphasizes. Guests must wear full-body overalls, a chest protector, face shield, helmet, boots, and gloves before stepping inside one of the break rooms.

The place also welcomes special events for groups and parties and it continues to offer mobile events. It also has locals nights every Wednesday, where residents can get a discount on the Short Fuze package, and paint and break parties, where people make a painting and smash stuff while it dries.

They get items from Last Chance Mercantile and local businesses, including restaurants, as well as from local residents. All the packages include a disposal fee and they recycle as much as they can.

THE BREAK ROOM 724 Lighthouse Ave. Monterey. Mon and Tues by appointment; 3-10pm Wed-Fri; 10am-10pm, Sat.; 11am-9pm, Sun. For more information, 917-8377 or visit thebreakroom831.com