On a sizzling, sticky Saturday night time in July, patrons confirmed up in a gentle stream to the gravel parking zone of Santa’s Pub, a double-wide trailer as purple as Jolly Outdated St. Nick’s trademark go well with. Ricky, the door man, checked IDs, saying loudly to every new group as they arrived: “Welcome to Santa’s! Money solely, beer solely! Beers are 4 and 5 {dollars}!” Christmas lights wrapped across the banister of the deck, illuminating murals depicting Santa behind bars (crimes unknown), amongst different situations. Issues had been heating up at Santa’s, although in a vastly completely different method from the bawdy, raucous crowds a number of miles away on Broadway, the place barroom shenanigans and drunken chaos usually spill into the streets. At Santa’s, there are guidelines. 

“ Don’t contact ladies. Don’t cuss in entrance of girls, and be good,” says proprietor Denzel Irwin, extra often known as Santa for his impressively prolonged, snowy beard. “And don’t be a douchebag.” Although the final rule may be powerful to implement, there’s one thing about Santa’s easy, no-nonsense perspective that retains folks in line. Plus, contained in the trailer—which is bedecked with Christmas bushes, strands of multicolored lights hanging from the low ceilings and numerous items of vacation décor on the fake wood-paneled partitions—the sentiments of camaraderie are plain. That’s significantly amplified by the vulnerability of karaoke. Karaoke is the spine of Santa’s Pub, beginning each day at 7 p.m. and persevering with till shut at 3 a.m.; the one exception to this rule is from 7 to 9 on Sunday evenings, when the home band, Santa’s Ice Chilly Pickers, takes the stage. 

Since 2011, when Santa took over the bar that grew to become his pub, Nashville has modified dramatically. Santa’s now sits within the shadow of Geodis Park, the large, state-of-the-art house of Nashville’s new skilled soccer membership. Simply down the street are a Soho Home and a brand new location of New York’s buzzy French bistro Pastis. However inside Santa’s, virtually nothing has modified—except for the indoor smoking ban that went into impact a number of years in the past, a lot to Santa’s displeasure; die-hards can nonetheless smoke on the porch—as a result of that’s how Santa likes it.

He’s amassed a following of regulars that ranges from neighbors to celebrities to worldwide vacationers who come to see him yearly. He counts Kacey Musgraves, TJ Osborne and Kelsea Ballerini as buddies. Marcus Mumford, of Mumford & Sons, met his spouse on the pub, a not-uncommon prevalence, says Santa. He counts about 20 {couples}—that he is aware of of—who’ve gone on to get married after assembly at his bar. However there’s been just one marriage ceremony at Santa’s, and that was Santa’s personal, to his longtime love, Angelina, on Christmas Day 2016. With their blended crew of grandkids, Angelina runs the bar alongside Santa, serving lots of of low-cost beers, from PBR tallboys to crispy bottles of Miller Excessive Life. You received’t discover any craft beers right here.

On this sizzling, sticky July night time, Santa’s crew consisted of three folks: Ricky on the door, Ryan Franco on the karaoke setup, and Jericho Powell, certainly one of Santa’s grandsons, behind the bar. Although he took this specific night time off, Santa is commonly discovered sitting on the porch, chopping it up with whoever’s coming via and ensuring everybody is aware of why the bar is known as “Santa’s.” Whereas there have been no superstar sightings on this go to, the group was in good type, ingesting a relentless stream of low-cost beers and black cherry White Claws whereas shouting encouragement to singers.

The Night time by the Numbers

No. of beers bought:
600 to 700

Costliest beer:
$5

No. of karaoke songs sung:
115

No. of occasions “Don’t Cease Believing” by Journey was sung:
3

Busiest hours: 10 p.m. to 12 a.m.

Most notable group: Sixteen folks visiting from Minnesota for a lady’s fiftieth birthday, all dressed as characters from completely different SNL skits (together with multiple Wayne and Garth duo).

Why’d you open Santa’s?

“I needed a spot the place folks may come have enjoyable with none bother. And respect one another. And I at all times love assembly folks. Ed Sheeran got here up one time, I used to be taking IDs. He stated, ‘Santa, what are you doing? Don’t you personal the place?’ I stated, ‘I really like assembly folks. All people’s obtained a narrative that’s attention-grabbing and I really like listening to them and so they love listening to mine. I really like folks.’” —Santa 

What’s your favourite karaoke music?

“‘Think about,’ by John Lennon. Or ‘Born to be an American,’ by Lee Greenwood.” —Santa

“‘East Certain and Down,’ by Jerry Reed.” —Ryan Franco, karaoke grasp

Least favourite karaoke music?

“‘Tiptoe By the Tulips,’ by Tiny Tim. That music’s so dangerous I took it off the karaoke record.” — Santa

“‘Candy Caroline.’” —Franco and Jericho Powell, bartender

Who sang one of the best songs of the night time?

“A man named J Clean sang ‘Let It Go,’ by James Bay, and I’d say everybody within the jam-packed bar was absolutely singing with him. He was unimaginable.” —Franco 

“Earlier, a extremely unassuming man belted out ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ from Mulan and it was insane. The entire crowd obtained into it.” — Sean, a neighborhood

Does Santa’s rejoice Christmas?

“Oh, sure. Now we have an enormous Christmas dinner. I herald a caterer and we now have fried turkey and baked turkey. Now we have a dressing, potato salad, beans. Now we have every little thing, all of the Christmas trimmings, and other people carry stuff.” —Santa

What’s probably the most shocking reality in regards to the bar?

“There’s by no means been a battle at Santa’s in 14 years. All people asks me, ‘Santa, are folks petrified of you?’ No, they respect me. It’s a distinction. You present respect. You get respect.” —Santa