Houston Chronicle by Jasper Scherer Feb. 9, 2020
Lester “Pe-Te†Johnson, a Cajun barbecue restaurant owner who also hosted a popular radio show featuring Cajun and zydeco music for nearly four decades, died Saturday. He was 85.
Johnson’s show, “Pe-Te’s Cajun Bandstand,†aired for almost 39 years on KPFT 90.1, playing from 6 to 9 a.m. each Saturday. Until 2005, he operated Pe-Te’s Cajun Barbecue House, a favorite hangout spot for astronauts and pilots located across from Ellington Field and near Johnson Space Center.
A vibrant and quick-witted Louisiana native whose nickname came from the French word “petite,†or small, Johnson was 5’5 and, by all accounts, full of energy. He would wake at 3:30 a.m. every Saturday to drive from his Friendswood home to the KPFT studio in Montrose for his three-hour show, a large chunk of which was devoted to song requests from listeners. Some astronauts who frequented Johnson’s restaurant or appeared on his radio show have played tapes of the show in space.
Johnson’s massive restaurant, which included a well-used dance hall, drew customers from all over the region, from Conroe to Angleton, with entire families often dropping in, according to a 2005 Houston Press story.
“People walk in here and fall in love with the place,†an unnamed Houston man said in a 1996 Chronicle story. “They can’t figure out why, what exactly the magic is. And I hope they never do find out what the magic is. If we knew what it was, it might spoil it.â€
