Disco Radio Hall

The Sleazy Boat is Back!

When I moved to Kiev three years ago, this gorgeous city on the Dneipr still had a bit of a river rat feel to it. The sleazy, funny places were housed on boats on the river, River Palace, that den of sin and freewheeling love, being the most famous. Then, with the new government, many boats were closed down, including the infamous Radio Disco Hall. An two-tiered, old skool dive of Russian pop, cheap dyevooshkis, vodka, and spontaneous adventures, it gained a cult following among the city’s more hardcore expats.

This past Friday saw the re-opening of Radio Disco Hall near the Moscow Bridge in Obolon. The boat has just been moved up the river, and the layout and almost everything else is the same as it was two years ago. Walking back into Radio Disco Hall is the closest you can get to time travel in contemporary Kiev. Fake Elvises and brightly-clad girls in big soul wigs greeted us at the door. Pop songs like Mama Luba and Moscow Never Sleeps blared from the speaker, while the usual mélange of slutty teenie-boppers and drunk Sergeis crammed up the dancefloor.

Though my friends wanted to leave, I’d like to come back for some more disco hall action another weekend, especially when the weather improves and they throw open the windows on the deck. It’ll be a lowball alternative to Dante on those summer nights.