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Pete Kastanes Calls Into Hoppe Hour With Ryan Hoppe · Hoppe Radio (Hoppe Hour) With Ryan Hoppe

• 0:01
  Door is closing. And now for something completely
• 0:13
  different. Happy hour. Happy hour. What's up?
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  This is Hoppy Hour. I am your host, Ryan Hoppy.
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  And from the Vanished Chicagoland online brand
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  and the Vanished Chicago Stories, the podcast,
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  the one and only Pete Kostanis is on Hoppy Hour.
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  What's up, my man? I'm doing great. How about
• 0:42
  you? I'm doing great, man. I find you absolutely
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  fascinating, Pete. I grew up in Chicago from
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  1993 to 2014. Then I moved to Cleveland briefly,
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  and then I moved to Tampa, and I've been here
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  10 years. And I missed the city, but I don't.
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  But I always love following Chicago pages that
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  kind of remind me why I got into radio and podcasting.
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  And I looked something up about 97 .9 The Loop,
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  and you shared some post about two, three years
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  ago, and I followed your page. Absolutely love,
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  Pete, how you're keeping the Vanished Chicago
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  memories that we have, the Vanished Chicagoland
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  memories, you are keeping them alive. Oh, yes.
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  I'm still doing this every day. People love it.
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  I'm getting a lot of praise and getting a lot
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  of followers, of course. It's just, it's my passion.
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  I love doing it every day. So, um, what was the
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  process? Obviously you can go to pages on Facebook
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  and just create a Facebook page, but what was
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  the process of just how did this brand explode
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  so fast or did it take time or what, what was
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  the whole process? Oh, okay. Well, I'll start
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  at the beginning. Um, one day I was searching
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  through Facebook and I noticed there was a, uh,
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  a business page and it was called dispenses,
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  capital of toys. I don't know if you remember
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  that it was a big toy store out in, um, Oak Brook
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  Terrace. And I look at it and I said, well, why
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  is there a business page when it's not a business?
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  You know, I think it was a trivia page. So I
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  thought to myself, why don't I do something like
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  that and celebrate all businesses that are gone?
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  So I started, it was first called Chicago Extreme
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  Businesses. So I started slowly and surely for
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  a couple of years. And then someone reached out
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  to me. It was from a local newspaper. And actually
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  I like to do an interview with you. And I said,
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  okay. And I, and then, so he interviewed me and
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  then he published the interview online. And then
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  that's when it took off. And I had like about
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  32 ,000 likes in one day. And there's, I mean,
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  yeah, I know. I was like, wait, wait a minute.
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  Wow. And then, then that was my moment of being
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  famous. for that. And then I've been interviewed
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  on radio, interviewed on newspapers. I haven't
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  been on TV yet. Not so far. Not yet. So now people
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  associate with me with that. And it's been like
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  that ever since. And it gets popular and popular
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  and popular. And I still receive texts and emails
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  from people. Can you please find me this? Can
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  you post this for me? I get a lot of requests
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  every day. That's the majority of my day of answering
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  that. And then the media took notice and they
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  love it. And it's wonderful. And let's see what
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  else. So I created a group too. So right now
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  I have about almost 240 ,000 members. Damn. And
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  still growing. So what are some of the radio
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  shows you've been on? I've been on WGN Radio,
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  WBZ, WBBM. Yeah, I've been to three of those.
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  I'm trying to think. There must be one more.
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  Oh, I was on The Loop with Mancow. How was that?
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  I grew up loving that guy, and I've DM'd him,
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  and he's a fascinating cat. Not everybody likes
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  him, but what was your experience with him? He
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  was very quiet, and he liked me. I didn't talk
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  to him much. But he was very interested, so that
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  was good. As long as I was on the show with him,
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  that was great. That was a very interesting experience
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  for me. What did he have? Did he have women there?
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  Because he's always got seven guests on. He had
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  a few men. There was one girl there. Her name
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  was Kathy. Oh, Kathy's awesome. Yeah, Kathy the
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  Greek. Yeah, she's the one who contacted me.
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  She asked me to appear. Yeah, she's very sweet.
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  Very sweet person. And so, yeah, so that was
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  my experience for Mancow. And I've been interviewed
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  on the radio throughout the years, maybe once
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  a year, maybe once or twice a year. And I had
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  newspaper articles. I had one from the Sun -Times
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  about a couple of years ago. And magazines. Yeah,
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  I was interviewed by Chicago Magazine. Nice.
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  Very nice. Yeah, it was very good. And it's amazing,
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  you know, because a lot of people, you know,
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  they love the page. They love that. And also,
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  you know, they're also concerned about my health,
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  of what's going on. So I get a lot of support.
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  That's going to be awesome because I always feel
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  like when you're facing cancer, why not be positive?
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  You know what I mean? Yes. because I caught it
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  early. And I always tell people, mostly men,
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  because it's prostate cancer, please go see,
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  if there's something wrong with you, if there's
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  nothing right, please go see a doctor. It'll
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  save your life. And some men are stubborn, but
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  some do. And they thank me for that. You know,
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  it's very touching. You know, it's almost the
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  tears. You know, they tell me that, yeah, you...
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  Well, what you said, you know, that you're very
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  inspiring to do that. Now, growing up, well,
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  for example, I interviewed Mark Giancarlo last
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  year, and he said that Chicago radio and TV was
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  like the Hollywood of Los Angeles. So everybody
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  knew all the anchors. Everybody knew all the
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  radio hosts. And I feel like it's not the same
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  as it was back in the day. Who were some of your
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  favorite TV and radio people from Chicago? Um,
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  when I was growing up, I liked, uh, Bob Surratt
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  and John Landecker. Um, who else? Uh, you know,
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  there's so many, you know, as a matter of fact,
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  Bob Surratt knows what I'm doing. That's, that's,
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  that's, that's kind of cool. Yeah, it is. Um,
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  but yeah, but right now, um, the people that
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  like me a lot is the people from WGN TV. Yeah.
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  Yeah. They, they like. They like what I do. And
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  I do talk to them from time to time, you know,
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  and, and let's see who else, but mostly some
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  from WLS, you know, Chicago, you know, television.
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  Yeah. I talked to a few people like that. Channel
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  two, channel five, not much, not really. But
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  whenever I post something on X or Facebook, they
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  do see that and they reply or they like it. So
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  that's cool. Yeah, so all of them know who I
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  am, what I do, and it's wonderful. I feel like
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  I'm in this group of them. Do you understand?
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  Oh, no, I get it. There is the saying, you don't
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  want to meet your heroes, but the one exception
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  for me is Eddie Volkman from the Eddie and Jobo
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  show. I grew up listening to Eddie and Jobo.
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  I can't. specify enough how much I love the Eddie
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  and Jobo show and I sat in on Eddie Volkman's
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  show at Star 96 .7 back in like August and he's
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  done some liners for me and it's so cool I bet
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  you have the same feeling about Bob Surratt it's
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  so cool when you actually meet a hero that's
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  like a big supporter and fan you know oh yeah
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  it's great and I do talk to Eddie on Facebook.
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  He's great. I love Eddie. He is a wonderful man.
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  Wonderful man indeed. Because I talk about his
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  dad, you know, Harry Volkman. He did the weather.
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  So Eddie, you know, sometimes he posts something
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  and I say something funny. Yeah. And he starts
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  laughing at me. Yeah, we communicate. You know,
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  he's a wonderful man. He really is. He's a good
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  guy. Where did you grow up in Chicago? Actually,
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  I grew up in three neighborhoods. in Chicago,
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  on the south side. One was South Shore. I lived
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  there when I was six. Then I moved to Roseland
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  for five years because my dad owned a property
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  there. We lived in an apartment building above
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  a shoe store. And then in 1974, I moved to Ashburn,
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  that's on the south side, and lived there for
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  about 25 years. Because I went to Bogan High
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  School. I went there. And then in 1995, I moved.
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  And then I moved to Oplon. So I'm a suburbanite.
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  I've been a suburbanite. But most of my life,
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  I've been a Chicagoan, a true Chicagoan. I'm
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  from Arlington Heights. I went to Hersey High
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  School, Thomas Middle School, Patton. And did
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  you ever have any experience in the Heights?
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  In Arlington Heights? Not really. But I used
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  to work in Rolling Meadows. Oh, nice. At American
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  Express Travel. I worked there for about 12 years.
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  And I did, you know, Arlington Heights is nearby,
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  you know. And so, yeah, I'm very familiar with
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  the area. So that was the best job I ever had.
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  And I worked as a ticketer. I issued tickets.
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  And I still miss the job to this day. I really
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  miss it. You know what's one thing that is the
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  biggest difference about Florida and Illinois?
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  Let's say when Dominic's went out of business
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  in 2013 and they closed a lot of their stores
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  in 2004, the lot will remain empty for 20 years.
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  In Florida, something gets picked up six months
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  later. And that was the biggest thing I've noticed
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  about the difference. I was always fascinated
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  by dead malls. I loved Randhurst Mall. And I
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  always loved, me and my friends, maybe we were
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  smoking weed, but we would be hanging out in
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  front of the empty Dominicks in Prospect Heights.
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  It's something you don't think about until you
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  move, Pete, is there's a lot of empty lots in
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  Illinois. It's just fascinating. Yeah, there
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  is. Most of Dominic's have been replaced. Uh,
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  I know a couple on the South side that haven't.
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  Uh, so I don't know what's going on, but, uh,
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  yeah, but I miss the store. I really do. It was
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  a great store. Dominic's pizza was the absolute
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  best. Oh, okay. Uh, yeah, I never had the, I
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  don't think I ever had their pizza. Uh, I've
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  had jewel. It was $5. My mom couldn't afford
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  like dominoes in that. So we would go there and
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  I would get a fruit punch, uh, soda. It was the
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  best. Oh, that's great. Yeah. That's good. That's
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  a great memory. Phenomenal. Uh, the one thing
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  I want to ask you, um, what's been. biggest difference
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  in Chicago from when you were growing up to now,
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  obviously I think the crime has gotten worse,
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  but like, what's the big difference you notice
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  in the city? Uh, I don't know. It keeps changing.
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  Uh, you know, businesses come and go. They really
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  do. Uh, you know, and, um, You know, department
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  stores are gone, mostly, you know, downtown,
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  which is a shame. You know, like Marshall Fields
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  and Carson's. What's the other one? I get top
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  of my head. There was Litton's and all that.
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  And then, of course, yeah, there was, yes, of
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  course, there was Sears. And then we had the
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  other stores, like the discount stores, like
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  Zare, Venture. Now we have Target and Walmart.
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  But we had those when I was a kid, and they were
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  great stores. So it evolves. Everything evolves
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  like that. But most people want some of the stores
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  back, especially Marshall Fields. They want it
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  back. They want it back so badly. I do, too.
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  But we don't know if it is going to come back,
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  because whoever runs the store is stubborn. But
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  I have a feeling once we bring back the name,
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  it'll be wonderful. It'll be awesome. People
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  will come back because they miss it. And I miss
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  it too. So we'll see. What did you think of Sears?
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  I'm not going to say which family member because
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  it's easy to find online, but I have a family
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  member that was the head executive for like the
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  Midwest branch of Sears. And I remember around
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  05, 06, when I was really beginning to pick up
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  memories, she was always concerned because Amazon
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  was coming around and just kind of doing its
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  thing. What did you think of Sears and its prime
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  and what happened to it? Let's see what happened.
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  You know, back in the old days, like the 50s
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  and the 60s and maybe early 70s, it was a wonderful
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  store. Their, you know, their management was
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  great. You know, customer service was so top
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  notch. And then it just all of a sudden just
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  declined, you know, and then when you go to Sears
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  before it closed, you couldn't find a salesperson,
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  you know. And it was like, what the heck? So
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  true. But it's so nostalgic. People miss the
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  store very much because whenever you need something,
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  you go there. If you want a washing machine or
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  you want to buy a Kenmore or a stove or a refrigerator,
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  boom, there it is. You go and buy it and pick
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  it up. And it was always available. It was right
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  there. It was accessible like that. Now it's
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  gone, which is a shame because they had the Tusken
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  jeans. They had the diehard batteries, you know,
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  and, of course, the Sears wish book. They come
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  out every year for Christmas. Oh, that was awesome,
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  you know. But I do post now and then, you know,
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  about Sears stuff. because the last one closed
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  in Woodfields, in Schaumburg. That was the way
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  I got into Woodfield, was either that or Carson's.
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  Yes. Carson's was a great store. Very good store.
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  It was a little less expensive than Marshall
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  Fields, but their quality was wonderful. It was
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  top -notch. It was great. And like I said, if
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  you need something at Carson's, you go right
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  there. Pick it up. Buy it. Take it home. That's
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  how it was. I love deep dish pizza, but I'm more
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  of a thin crust fan. What is your take on Chicago
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  pizza? Oh, I like all pizza. Deep dish is fine.
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  Thin crust is fine. As a matter of fact, one
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  of my favorites is Dietl and Nick's. That's on
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  85th and Pulaski in Chicago because I used to
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  live in that old neighborhood. I went there maybe
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  a couple years ago. People flock there. all the
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  time because it's a very unique, they don't accept
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  cash and, um, it's something different. It's
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  very good. And, uh, but pizza, I love, you know,
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  if it's thin crust, thick crust, deep dish stuffed,
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  I'm all for it. I'm not, the only, my favorite,
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  uh, toppings is just sausage and pepperoni. Oh,
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  you don't like, um, fruit, no, no, uh, fruit.
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  Fruit? Oh, on the pizza? You mean like pineapple?
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  Yeah, yeah. I tried it once, but you know, it
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  tastes strange, but you know, I have an open
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  mind. I'd like to try it again. It's not bad,
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  but I'm not going, like I've had pineapple pizza
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  be dropped off in my radio jobs over the years
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  and it's like edible, but I would never order
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  it. You know what I mean? I think so. No, you
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  know, but I'll try it someday, you know, but.
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  We have some good pizza places, especially near
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  my house. So you can't find it anywhere else.
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  Yeah. What are your favorite memories of like
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  Chicago sports over the years? Well, sports,
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  I'm not much of a sports fan. Oh, really? Not
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  really. But when I go to a game, like for example,
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  I've been to a Hawks game and I've been to the
• 17:10
  Cubs. And if you're there, the experience of
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  watching the game, is great. I love that. On
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  TV, it's kind of dull, but when you're at the
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  game with the crowds and you see the players,
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  that's kind of exciting. That's very exciting.
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  I had a good time there. I really did. It's not
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  the same on TV because you have the announcers,
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  they're talking, and they have the commercials
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  and all that, but when you're at an actual game,
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  it doesn't matter what sport, the Bulls, the
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  Hawks, the Bears, There's nothing like it. There's
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  nothing like it. I cannot ask a person who's
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  from Chicago that grew up in the 70s, I cannot
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  ask them and I cannot interview them without
• 17:57
  asking this. What was your experience with disco
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  demolition? Were you at it? What's your experience
• 18:03
  with it? Well, here's the story. It happened
• 18:07
  in July 1979. The thing is, me and my family,
• 18:12
  we were in Greece. Oh, wow. Yeah, we were in
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  Greece and I had no idea what was going on. But
• 18:19
  my brother received a letter from his friend
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  in Greece and told him about it. And we had no
• 18:27
  idea. And when we came back like late August,
• 18:31
  my old neighborhood, everyone was talking about
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  it. The kids in high school that I went, you
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  know, Bogan. They went to that, and they said,
• 18:40
  Pete, you missed the biggest thing you ever had.
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  Well, I was not supposed to go. My mom wanted
• 18:45
  to go to Greece, and I didn't want to go anyway,
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  but we did, and we stayed for two months. And
• 18:52
  so I missed the entire disco demolition, and
• 18:54
  I talked about it on my podcast, and I do post
• 18:57
  pictures of that. On the podcast, I explained
• 19:00
  my experience of not knowing about it, and that
• 19:05
  was fascinating. It's a shame I missed it. No,
• 19:09
  I was born in 93, so I didn't get to hear The
• 19:12
  Loop and it's Hate Day, but I've heard a lot
• 19:14
  of it online. But Jonathan Brand, Johnny B's
• 19:18
  second run on 97 .9 The Loop in 05 and then when
• 19:22
  Dahl was on Jack FM and WCKG, both of those guys,
• 19:26
  dude, define radio for sure. Oh, that was great
• 19:30
  times. I listened to WCKG all the time. I listen
• 19:35
  to all radio stations, you know, where there's
• 19:37
  rock music. That's my favorite type of music.
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  So, uh, when I was growing up, uh, when I was
• 19:43
  in high school, we had, uh, we had the loop and
• 19:46
  we also had WMET. That was 95 and a half FM and,
• 19:50
  uh, also WLS FM. Then, uh, yeah, B -96. I did
• 19:57
  listen to B -96 in the early eighties. And that
• 20:01
  was a, that was a fun time. That was a fun time.
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  I love that. I used to listen all the time because
• 20:06
  music was changing. So, and, uh, and I was there
• 20:11
  when WLSFM turned into WDAI and it turned into
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  the disco station. Yeah. And then it went back
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  to rock about a couple of years later. So I was
• 20:22
  there when I listened to all of that. You know
• 20:24
  what I've, you know what I've heard about? Um,
• 20:27
  Z 95 is what I've heard about too. Yes. I did
• 20:32
  listen to that. I really did. It wasn't very
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  long, but yeah, I remember that very well. Well,
• 20:39
  from what I've read, cause I'm a huge, like how
• 20:41
  you love the past about Chicago. I love radio
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  and Chicago radio. So I've listened to a lot
• 20:46
  of stuff online and I believe it was, his name
• 20:49
  was Jason Barsky came to Chicago and tried to
• 20:52
  take out Eddie and Jobo, but that was kind of
• 20:54
  when Eddie and Jobo were first beginning. Cause
• 20:56
  Eddie was doing mornings. by himself for a few
• 20:59
  years, and he told me, and he said it on my show,
• 21:01
  and he told me in person, that having Jobo was
• 21:04
  the perfect kind of like, almost like devil to
• 21:07
  angel on your shoulder, because Eddie's a very
• 21:10
  clean -cut, classy guy, and Jobo's a little more
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  unpredictable, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I did listen
• 21:18
  to those guys. Actually, I'm friends with them.
• 21:20
  I'm friends with Jobo on Facebook. Jobo's hilarious.
• 21:24
  Amazon package of the day. I love it. Every day
• 21:29
  you get to see what Jobo bought on Amazon. And
• 21:33
  I love the comments. He never responds, but he'll
• 21:36
  post something to like troll people. And then
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  like 70 Karens will be like Jobo. It's amazing.
• 21:42
  Oh, that is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
• 21:46
  Now in your whole lifetime, before I let you
• 21:49
  go, what is your absolute favorite thing about
• 21:51
  Chicago? My favorite absolutely thing, you know,
• 21:57
  this is kind of strange because, you know, I
• 22:03
  have the page. I love doing that. That's my passion.
• 22:06
  But, you know, every year, you see, I'm a comic
• 22:10
  book fan. Yeah. I'm a huge comic book fan. And
• 22:12
  I go to, what's it called, Fan Expo in Rosemont
• 22:16
  every August. Oh, nice. Yeah. I go every year.
• 22:20
  I've been doing that for almost 30 years. I was
• 22:22
  going there. I just loved it because it's a great
• 22:25
  place to escape, you know, look at comics. They
• 22:28
  have celebrities there. It's like my Disneyland
• 22:32
  there. That's what it is. And, you know, I'm
• 22:35
  61 years old. I'm still doing this stuff, you
• 22:37
  know, but I enjoy it. I really do because I'm
• 22:40
  a huge fan of that. And, you know, other things
• 22:44
  like in Chicago, you know, we have so much culture.
• 22:47
  There's so many beautiful things to see, so many
• 22:50
  things to learn. That's what's great about that.
• 22:53
  And you meet the people. The people are wonderful.
• 22:57
  They really are. Now, before I let you go, do
• 22:59
  a quick plug. Tell everybody about everything
• 23:02
  you're up to. Okay. I run the page. It's called
• 23:07
  Vanish Chicago Land. I also have a group, the
• 23:10
  same name. I also have a podcast. It's called
• 23:13
  Vanish Chicago Land Stories, the podcast. You
• 23:17
  can find it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or Amazon
• 23:22
  Music, any app that has podcasts. I also have
• 23:25
  a YouTube channel. You can find the podcast as
• 23:29
  well. You can do a search engine. I say this
• 23:32
  every time I do a podcast. I tell them where
• 23:34
  you can find them, where you can find the podcast.
• 23:37
  You can listen anywhere, on your phone, your
• 23:40
  desktop, your car, any place. So that's what
• 23:44
  I do. Well, Pete, sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt
• 23:48
  you, but it's been a lot of fun having you on
• 23:50
  the show. I'm coming to Chicago in May for my,
• 23:55
  I can't believe it, my 2007 born cousin is graduating
• 23:58
  high school. So I decided I had like a free plane
• 24:01
  ticket kind of deal to like fly out. And I was
• 24:04
  like, why not fly out for that? So I'm going
• 24:06
  to be in Chicago for my cousin's high school
• 24:09
  graduation. So if you're free, I would love to
• 24:11
  get coffee and meet you. Oh, that'd be wonderful.
• 24:14
  Yeah, that'd be great. We can get together. We
• 24:16
  could talk, you know, that'd be, that'd be awesome.
• 24:18
  I will definitely hit you up, Pete. It's been
• 24:21
  a lot of fun having you on the show and thank
• 24:23
  you for everything you've done for the city of
• 24:25
  Chicago, because it's very hard. It's called
• 24:27
  vanished Chicagoland for the right reason. It's
• 24:30
  sometimes hard to find the memories, but when
• 24:32
  you see it on Facebook, you're like, you kind
• 24:34
  of get that like dopamine hit. Oh, never heard
• 24:38
  it that way before, but thank you. And, uh, I
• 24:42
  appreciate that. I really do. It's a wonderful
• 24:46
  thing. I just love doing it. Pete, keep up the
• 24:50
  good work. Thank you for calling into Hoppy Hour
• 24:52
  with Ryan Hoppy. Oh, well, thank you, Ryan. I
• 24:55
  enjoyed talking to you. All right. Have a great
• 24:57
  day, and I will see you in May. Okay. That's
• 25:01
  a date. All right. Sounds good. All right. See
• 25:03
  you, bro. Okay, Brian. Bye. And that was Pete
• 25:07
  Kostanis of the Vanished Chicagoland brand and
• 25:11
  Vanished Chicagoland Stories, the podcast, as
• 25:14
  he called it in the Hoppy Hour. Now, I grew up
• 25:16
  in Chicago from 1993 to 2014. I listened to,
• 25:19
  I was huge in the radio. I listened to Eddie
• 25:22
  and Jovo, Jonathan Brandmeier, Drex, Steve Dahl.
• 25:27
  Rover, Opie and Anthony, Roe and Gary. Can you
• 25:31
  tell I liked radio? So I interned at Dance Factory
• 25:33
  Radio and was on air with Lewis 2 Live. Then
• 25:36
  I was on WNUR 89 .3 FM. I snuck into Northwestern
• 25:40
  University while going to the Illinois Media
• 25:43
  School, which is great. Then I was on WHCM 88
• 25:46
  .3 Harper College Radio. And I also interned
• 25:50
  with Steve Dahl, who's the GOAT. So here's the
• 25:52
  thing, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
• 25:54
  is my show is built for you, Chicago. I have
• 25:57
  two versions, one where I do radio interviews
• 25:59
  and talk to people like Pete, and I've interviewed
• 26:02
  Mark Giniograko. I have a whole archive of it.
• 26:06
  So here's the deal. Go to every single major
• 26:08
  platform that has a podcast and search up Hoppy
• 26:11
  Radio, H -O -P -P -E Radio. And I'm on all social
• 26:16
  media at Ryan Hoppy Radio. This has been Hoppy
• 26:19
  Hour. I am your host, Ryan Hoppy, and I expect
• 26:21
  you to tune in, Chicago.