5/30/2023 0 Comments Chopper nashvilleTropical plants surround cozy VINYL BOOTHS and a BAMBOO-LINED BAR in the center of the room. We see a classic 1960s-era tiki bar lit in neon tones. Stepping inside Chopper is like… well, remember those old reruns of Star Trek and Lost in Space that used to constantly play on TV? Imagine this is a script from one of those shows: Look for the robot-like tiki god (or is it a tiki god-like robot?) and the garage door windows on the corner of Stratton and Gallatin Avenue and you’ll know you’ve arrived. (If you’re reading this and you don’t live in Nashville, let me just warn you right now that parking in most neighborhoods is very hard to find these days and often ridiculously expensive.) We also found plenty of street-side parking when we visited on a Wednesday night at 8. You’ll find Chopper on Stratton Avenue in East Nashville and if you’re anything like us, you’ll be favorably disposed towards this bar from the moment you discover that there’s a parking lot right across the street that’s FREE after the bank closes for the day. How else do you explain the fact that there’s a robot-themed tiki bar in Nashville? “Actually, though, it’s not a bad idea…”Īt least, that’s how I imagine Chopper was born. “The only thing I really remember now is that I was at a tiki bar… but there were, like, robots everywhere.” “The dream I had last night was so weird,” he told a friend the next day over coffee. This East Nashville tiki bar has more than a few fun surprises. In both cases, Haywood credits the police helicopter for its assistance.Fruity, rum-filled drinks, a retro Polynesian vibe… and robots. While the operator was far out of sight, police tracked him down. And during CMA Fest, one flew over a paid concert at Nissan Stadium. On July 4, a drone landed in the downtown crowd. Officers determine whether to issue a misdemeanor reckless endangerment citation. “Let’s put it this way: If we’re able to locate the operator, we do try to go and have conversations with them,” he says. Haywood is frank in describing how difficult they are to track. Yet an officer noticing a drone is only a start. Tennessee law, meanwhile, has become explicit in making it a crime to fly over ticketed events or within a fireworks fallout zone. Haywood points to federal guidelines that say drones shouldn’t fly over crowds, which he says rules out basically any downtown event - and even regular weeknights - for downtown drone usage. Sometimes our officers on the ground might pick them out.” “Part of our plan is looking into the sky … sometimes our helicopter that ends up patrolling the air space above our special events might pick them out. “We’re constantly looking for them,” Sgt. It’s one that typically falls to the department’s Hazardous Devices Unit, best known for examining suspicious packages and responding to bomb calls during special events. Metro police say tracking down drone operators is an increasing challenge. Yet several other drones were spotted in violation of state and federal rules - and got away. Nashville police cited a local drone operator with reckless endangerment for flying over the city’s huge fireworks crowd this week.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |