Pete Catavolos 85, the radio voice of Cleveland's Greek community for 25 years
Hoodoo
Tuesday, August 03, 2010, 3:48 PM
Margaret Bernstein, The Plain Dealer
http://www.cleveland.com/obituaries/index.ssf/2010/08/pete_catavolos_radio_voice_of.html
Pete Catavolos was the radio voice of Cleveland's Greek community for 25
years, as well as a local businessman and restaurant owner. He died of
cancer July 30 at age 85, at Regency Hospital in Middleburg Heights.
The son of Greek immigrants, he loved his Cleveland hometown and was
equally proud of his Greek-American heritage, said his son, George.
In a 1998 Plain Dealer interview, Catavolos remembered his first job as
a boy, shining shoes near his father's Cleveland coffeehouse on old
Bolivar Road, then a thriving Greek business district:
"I shall never forget standing rigid at the front doors of coffee shops
and bars, calling in Greek 'loustros, loustros' -- 'shoeshine, shoeshine.' "
He attended Brownell Junior High School in downtown Cleveland, and later
organized a reunion for his classmates and became the school's first
alumni club president. He attended John Hay High School, leaving before
graduation to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
He returned after the war to complete high school, and then attended
Case College for two years before entering the workforce. He became a
salesman for Gold Prize coffee and later, sales manager for Seagrams and
Heublein liquors.
Catavolos developed friendships with restaurant owners, and eventually
decided to enter the field himself. He opened several Brown Derby chain
restaurants in the Cleveland area, but was best known for the high drama
of his Blue Chip Restaurant on Chagrin Boulevard in Shaker Heights.
With its belly dancers, velvet-draped dining rooms and Greek-American
menu, the Blue Chip in the 1960s attracted visiting stars such as Jack
Benny, Harry Belafonte, Nana Mouskouri, Jerry Lewis, Wayne Newton and
Liberace.
The popular Catavolos occasionally appeared on TV news programs to do
cooking segments and demonstrate Greek dancing. A real estate broker for
more than 50 years with Royal Shores Realty, he headed efforts to
complete a renovated Greek garden along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
in time for the city's 1996 bicentennial.
For more than 25 years, he publicly showcased his affection for all
things Greek during his radio shows, the Greek Hellenic Hour and the
International Hour, which most recently aired Sundays on WERE 1490-AM.
He shared poetry, words of wisdom and his remembrances about local
history, music and dance. "His advertisers loved him because he did
everything live," said his son. "Last year, he did his last show."
Pete Catavolos 1925 -- 2010
Survivors: Wife, Irene; son, George P. of North Ridgeville; daughter,
Christina of New York; two brothers; a sister; and three grandchildren.
Services: 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 6, at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox
Church, 22909 Center Ridge Rd., Westlake.
Contributions: Happy Trails Animal Rescue or the American Cancer Society.
Arrangements: Arrangements are being handled by his son, George, of
Catavolos Funeral Home.
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on Sirius Satellite, and its internet radio player, suck