Trukhaniv Island: Old Kyiv's Favorite Summer Retreat

In summer, once the heat of the day eased a little, Kyiv residents loved to spend the evening outdoors under the trees. But the gardens with public festivities, such as Chateau de Fleurs or the Merchants' Garden, charged a fairly high entrance fee, around 40 kopecks, which not everyone could afford, while the free gardens had neither supervision nor any amenities.

There were no benches, the paths were always overgrown, and everywhere you looked, ragged tramps slept on the grass with their sweethearts. The only reasonably pleasant place for a free stroll was Volodymyrska Hill, but even there local hooligans and the dim light of kerosene lamps meant that respectable families did not consider it a proper place for themselves.

So Kyiv residents would gather in groups of several families, pack a samovar and provisions, and cross by boat to the other side of the Dnipro, to Trukhaniv Island, where they settled among the willow bushes and feasted in the open air. For a small sum one could buy a hundred or two crayfish from Hintovt, who lived in a small hut right on the shore, and the outing made an impression that lasted a long time. Over time, having saved up a little money, Hintovt built tables and benches and opened a homely restaurant. At any hour of the day or night he served crayfish, fried chicken, dairy products and beer. As soon as May arrived, Kyiv's middle class flocked to Hintovt's. The crossing over the Dnipro was made on numerous boats that also belonged to Hintovt and cost five kopecks for a round trip. Soon the fare was raised, and five kopecks covered only one way. On Sundays and major holidays such as Trinity, the whole island was packed with revelers, and ferrying the guests back to the city went on until dawn. Paying the city a meager rent, Hintovt grew very rich. But he wanted the hen that laid him golden eggs to lay two or more instead of one, and he pushed it until it died of overfeeding.

Hintovt built a large pavilion, a summer theater and a bandstand on Trukhaniv Island, and set up two crossings of his own to carry guests. A swarm of suppliers gathered around him, offering him goods on credit. Lacking simple commercial sense, Hintovt ignored all advice and took whatever he was offered. He hired an expensive symphony orchestra, completely unnecessary for a public that preferred a military band; he brought in chansonette singers, counting on business in private rooms; he built his own power station at a cost of more than 20,000 rubles; and he hired cooks and waiters. Seeing all this, competitors drove up his rent at auction from one hundred fifty to more than two thousand. Meanwhile the ordinary public, who could not pay for such costly extravagance, noticeably thinned out, and it often happened that two orchestras thundered away under bright electric light while there was literally not a soul in the audience, only gloomy waiters with dirty napkins under their arms.

Business declined, and the employees, sensing the collapse, scattered like mice; one of them, the crafty Fomka, opened his own delicatessen. Hintovt went completely bankrupt. His property was auctioned off, and he retired to a quiet life in Mykilska Slobidka. After Hintovt there were other attempts to run summer entertainment on Trukhaniv Island, but every one of them ended in failure. For example, after Hintovt the island was leased from the city by Nemenskyi, a former maitre d' at Chateau de Fleurs. He did not even last until the end of the season and went bankrupt without paying anyone.