Pete Kastanes was an amateur historian who chronicled Chicago’s lost businesses, eateries and other recognizable parts of its built environment both on social media and in a podcast he created and hosted.
Kastanes’ efforts started in the early 2010s with a Facebook page devoted to a single business. He soon expanded his nostalgia efforts with the formation of a Facebook page devoted to Chicago’s extinct businesses.
Kastanes eventually rebranded that broader page as “Vanished Chicagoland,” a popular page that grew to attract more than 250,000 followers.
Kastanes “lived and worked here his whole life and developed a passion for Chicago history,” said Eric Miller, the Chicago History Museum’s development coordinator. “Out of that interest, he created a social media site, ‘Vanished Chicagoland,’ that grew to become the most popular Chicago history site on social media. The site was successful because Pete tapped into an interest that a lot of people have: What are Chicago places or experiences people remember from the past that are no longer around.”
Kastanes, 62, died of complications from prostate cancer April 25 at a hospice center in Palos Heights, said his brother Bill. Kastanes had been a longtime Oak Lawn resident.
The son of Greek immigrants, Kastanes was born in Oak Lawn and grew up on the South and Southwest sides, in the South Shore, Roseland and Ashburn neighborhoods. While living in Ashburn, he graduated from Bogan High School in 1981. He then got a bachelor’s degree from DeVry University, his brother said.
Kastanes held several odd jobs over the years, including for the city of Chicago, his brother said. He also worked for American Express Travel, leaving that job about 2008, his brother said.
Kastanes’ first foray into capturing Chicago history online began in 2011, when he noticed a Facebook page focused on the now-shuttered Dispensa’s Castle of Toys store in Oakbrook Terrace.
“I saw the page and I was wondering, why do they have a page about a business that’s no longer there? Later on, I found out it was a tribute page, and they had pictures of the toy store,” Kastanes said in 2021, during the second episode of his podcast. “So I thought to myself, why don’t I do something like that? Why don’t I create a Facebook page that had businesses in Chicago that were gone?”
In August 2011, Kastanes launched his first Facebook page, “A Tribute to Kroozin’ Music II on W 79th Street Ashburn Chicago,” devoted to the onetime record store by that name across from Bogan High School. The store had been a hangout for Kastanes when he was in high school.
In May 2012, Kastanes created “Chicago Extinct Businesses,” which eventually morphed into “Vanished Chicagoland.”
Before long, Kastanes found that he had tapped into something that interested many Chicagoans.
“When I was growing up or before I was born, there was (a) certain elegance and charm about the businesses back then that is rarely seen today,” Kastanes told DNAinfo’s Justin Breen in 2015. “Everything now is corporate, everyone’s in a rush, the mom-and-pop stores are virtually disappearing before our eyes.”
As Kastanes gained followers, he kept his site solely focused on Chicago history, Miller said.
“He held a strict rule: The site was only about history,” Miller said. “Anyone who wrote about politics or something negative in a post would be removed from the site. Followers appreciated this space that was uplifting and informative, and connected with the constantly updated historical topics.”
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Miller said Kastanes had told him that the most popular memories that followers would post were ones that involved Kiddieland amusement park in Melrose Park, the Marshall Field’s department store’s Christmas windows on State Street in the Loop and the onetime WGN-Ch. 9 shows featuring Ray Rayner and Garfield Goose.
Kastanes’ focus on Chicago history eventually expanded to creating videos about the city’s businesses.
“There are hundreds of videos about Chicago, but my videos specialized in the businesses that were the cornerstones of making Chicago one of the best cities in the country and the world,” he told DNAinfo in 2015. “I also wanted to create something that brings a lot of memories to the social media generation. That way, younger people could learn about the history of the city they live in now or have lived in before, and older people, like me, can go back to a simpler time.”
Jason Schwartz, who runs the popular Instagram site “Chicago History,” said Kastanes served as something of a mentor and offered encouragement, particularly after Schwartz’s earlier effort — a Facebook site — had been hacked.
“He literally motivated me to continue doing what we both love, and that’s telling stories about Chicago,” Schwartz said. “Not to sound corny, but there wasn’t a day that went by that Pete and I didn’t wake up and think of Chicago before ourselves. That’s what we both had in common: Our ultimate love and desire for the city of Chicago.”
Kastanes also developed presences on Twitter and Reddit, as well as on his own website, vanishedchicagoland.blog.
In 2021, Kastanes began hosting and producing a more or less weekly podcast titled “Vanished Chicagoland Stories,” whose episodes can be found at Apple Podcasts and on YouTube. He produced 520 episodes of his podcast.
Topics included Lum’s Restaurants, the opening of the Ford City shopping mall, the Kroch’s & Brentano’s book store, Chicago TV weather forecasters from the 1970s and Jimmy Wong’s Cantonese restaurant on South Wabash Avenue.
On March 1, Kastanes’ final podcast episode covered the old George Diamond Steak House restaurant in the Loop and the now-shuttered Izzy Rizzy’s House of Tricks magic shop on the Southwest Side.
Last year, in response to clamoring from followers of the “Vanished Chicagoland” Facebook page, the Chicago History Museum created the Citizen Historian Award in Kastanes’ honor, and made him its first recipient.
The museum held a ceremony recognizing Kastanes in February 2025 and presented him with a plaque reading, “For exceptional contributions to research, writing and promoting Chicago history — embracing the … mission of encouraging learning and inspiration, connecting people to Chicago and each other.”
In Kastanes’ final “Vanished Chicagoland” post, on April 23, he thanked his followers “for making this fun. I love you all! And god bless!”
In addition to his brother, Kastanes is survived by another brother, John, and his mother, Zoe.
Services were held.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.