Latest / Hoppe Radio (Hoppe Hour) With Ryan Hoppe / Ryan Hoppe Of Hoppe Hour Remembers Pete Kastanes From Vanished Chicagoland!

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Ryan Hoppe Of Hoppe Hour Remembers Pete Kastanes From Vanished Chicagoland! · Hoppe Radio (Hoppe Hour) With Ryan Hoppe

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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.