Ryan Hoppe Of Hoppe Hour Remembers Pete Kastanes From Vanished Chicagoland!

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I had a friend, and he was everybody's friend

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in Chicago. I had a friend named Pete Kostanis,

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and Pete was a fascinating guy. He ran the brand,

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which had Twitter pages, Instagram pages, Facebook

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pages, called Vanished Chicagoland, where he

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would talk about, oh, you remember this grocery

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store on, I don't know, I can't think of a road

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right now. on Cumberland and people would comment

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oh I used to get an Italian beef there remember

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this toy store yeah I got my first teddy bear

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there and he started creating it when Facebook

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really began to pop about 12 years ago and I

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believe there was another name that was attached

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to it before it was Vanished Chicagoland and

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to be honest Pete had that it factor so he would

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run his Facebook group where he would Post about

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memories. And he did a podcast with 500 episodes.

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I believe he really began doing it during COVID,

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especially in Chicago where they were really

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locked down. And he would have a signature selfie

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where he kind of had a mysterious look about

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him. And that's because he was a mysterious guy.

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And that was a good thing was he was very classy.

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He was very private, but he also would do anything

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for his friends. So I first found the page because

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probably my algorithm working in radio, I would

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see like, let's say it's the 42nd anniversary

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of Disco Demolition with Steve Dahl and his page

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would post it and then everybody would go, I

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was there, blah, blah, blah. Remember the 79

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or the, I think it was 97 cents to get in and

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blah, blah, blah. So then I followed the page

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and you begin to kind of see the selfies and

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there's a certain way you have to promote yourself

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when you're on a brand. Like I'll take selfies

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and I might get 10 likes. Pete takes selfies

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and he gets a thousand likes. He just had that

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it factor. He just had that classiness to him.

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He represented old Chicago. Not saying Chicago

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doesn't have love now, but he represented that

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brotherhood that like my mom's friends knew who

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he was. Everybody at the WGN news knew who he

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was and he passed away from cancer Sunday. April

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26th. And he made a post Wednesday or Thursday

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last week saying that he didn't have much time

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left and he was going into hospice. And I was

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flying to Minneapolis after being in Chicago.

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And I just started crying on the plane because

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I wasn't on a Delta plane. I was on a Sun Country

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plane where they don't really have Wi -Fi. So

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it was just me and my thoughts. And it just absolutely

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crushed me. I texted him. I don't know. probably

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nine days ago because now it's Monday April 27th

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and Monday or Saturday April 18th I flew to Chicago

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and I knew he was in a hospital and I texted

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him and I said hey Pete do you want any company

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I would love to see you and then he was like

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oh well I'm in the hospital right now um I should

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be getting out soon and then I said sounds good

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I said when you can get out let me know and I'll

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buy you lunch because he just bought me lunch

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And then seeing how quickly the cancer spread

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in the last five days absolutely crushed me because

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he had so many plans. He was 62 years old. I

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know he was making a good living off of a van

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in Chicagoland. He had his own house. He had

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a lovely mom who seemed like the nicest person.

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And if she's listening, I am so sorry. Your son

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is just one of a kind. And I'm a jackass on this

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show. I speak my mind and say it like it is.

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But I'm telling you, I absolutely adored Pete.

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Pete was that guy. We went out to lunch. I forget

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the name of the place. I couldn't even remember

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what I ate. I think it was a burger. Went to

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this place in Lombard or something. Man, I wish

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I could remember. He had so many plans. He was

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talking about he was going to go visit, I guess,

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some family in Greece because he was Greek and

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he wanted to go to Greece and he was going to

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get his visa and he was going to travel the world.

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And he said, once I get rid of that darn cancer,

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like he was such a clean cut guy that he didn't

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say, like in my Facebook post, I said, fuck cancer

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because it's ridiculous. But he was just such

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a sweet guy. And I think what I adored most about

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Pete was that I had just met him. And sometimes

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when you meet people you're a fan of, you don't

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want to meet your heroes. Pete was one of my

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heroes because, man, if I was facing cancer and

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I was not sure if I'm going to be able to travel

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the world, I would be furious at the world. I

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would not. anything to do with the road but all

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he did was spread love he spread awareness of

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Chicago's past and I'm trying not to cry right

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now I am just absolutely torn Pete was that guy

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man he I don't know what else I can say I made

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my Facebook post last night I'll get to some

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of the comments right now Pete just I'm not a

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religious person I know a lot of people on the

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post are saying he's up in heaven and I just

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adored Pete. Brent Putin, who just graduated

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from the Illinois Center for Radio or whatever

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it's called now, and he said, there are truly

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no words. Pete will never be forgotten. Let me

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see the other comments. I didn't know Pete personally

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like so many others, but I am heartbroken like

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so many others that he has left us now here.

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He seemed to be an amazing person. A lot of the

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comments about I didn't know Pete personally.

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I thought this was a good comment. I'm not saying

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the other comments aren't. But I know Pete 40

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years ago at DeVry University. Quiet, but had

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a great sense of humor, and he would have the

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class in absolute stitches. Two to three times

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a trimester. Just one of the funniest and sweetest

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guys you'll ever meet. I liked something on his

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site. 10 years ago, and he sent me a message

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thanking me for the like, and if I remembered

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him. Like, how am I going to forget you? He was

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a nice guy, and my condolences to his family,

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his friends, and his fans. Ryan, what a great

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tribute to a great guy. He will surely be missed.

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He created something beautiful and wonderful,

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and I will never forget him. And a lot of the

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same comments. And I'm not... I'm not a religious

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guy. I don't believe in God. I'm not going to

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go down that route because I don't want to hurt

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people that do believe in God. But it just absolutely

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crushes me that you have this amazing man who

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deserved nothing but the best in life. Like Pete

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was that guy. Because you know on this show,

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I usually just trash celebrities. So this is

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out of my comfort zone to be nice. But I'm telling

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you, Pete was that guy. Only met him once. Texted

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a lot. On the podcast feed, I'll post the interview

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we had probably March last year. And you got

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to think, he's got hundreds of thousands of fans.

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He's gone on WGN News. He's been on Madhouse

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Morning Madhouse 10 years ago. The few words

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he got to get in on air. He had all this stardom

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in Chicago. Marcus Leshock was his friend, who's

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Marcus is awesome. But I'm just saying. I'm not

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a little show, but he took time out of his day.

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I'm not paying him. I'm not on in Chicago. So

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I just want to thank you, Pete, man. You made

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me a better person. You made me realize what

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a true man is. And you made me realize that not

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only do I need to improve as a person to be as

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awesome as you, but that you're never going to

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be forgotten. You're never going to be vanished,

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dude. You're a fucking legend. You're the man.

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There's never ever going to be somebody. I'm

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not saying there's never going to be somebody

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as nice as him, but he had such a kind soul.

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He's the type of guy. If you got a flat tire,

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he'd be there to help you. He was that dude.

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Just such an amazing guy, which is why it hurts

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me so much is because I'm not saying if he was

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older, it'd be any better, but he was 62 and

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he was going to get his visa and travel the world.

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If I may quote the 1996 song, man, funk dead.

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So on this website called Suna, you can make

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AI songs. I have not heard this song, but here

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is a song that's dedicated to Pete. Right here.

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Oh, I do this thing I do once a show where I

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don't have the music potted up. Here is the song

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for you, Pete. We'll see you next time. All right.

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Sorry I mispronounced his last name, but I thought

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AI was so smart. Still made a good song.