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🇮🇱 Israel /Culture & Society

Northeast Philadelphia’s Last Jewish Deli Closes After More Than 60 Years

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Steve Stein’s Famous Deli, the last Jewish deli in Northeast Philadelphia, closed after more than six decades in business.
  • Customers described sadness over losing an affordable Jewish food option and linked the closure to the decline of Jewish institutions and population in the area.
  • Stein’s son Lee hopes to open his own deli in the suburbs and continue the family business.

Steve Stein’s 83-year-old legs finally told him it was time to stop. But when customers rushed to Famous Deli after hearing it would close, Stein discovered the goodbye carried more emotion than he expected.

“It’s overwhelming,” Stein said. “The amount of people that came in here in the last 10 days, two weeks. Their comments are very touching. I knew I was liked. I didn’t know I was loved.”

It’s overwhelming. The amount of people that came in here in the last 10 days, two weeks. Their comments are very touching. I knew I was liked. I didn’t know I was loved.

— Steve SteinStein described customers’ reaction to the deli’s closing.

The deli’s closing leaves Northeast Philadelphia without a Jewish deli. Customers said they would miss Stein, but also lamented the disappearance of Jewish food options, especially one with prices as low as Famous. Rebecca Asheuer, who grew up nearby and had visited throughout her life, said the closure brought “surprise and sadness” because it was the last one in the Northeast.

I feel surprise and sadness, because it’s the last one in the Northeast.

— Rebecca AsheuerA longtime customer mourned the loss of the area’s last Jewish deli.

The neighborhood has changed dramatically since Stein’s father, Mike, took over the business more than 60 years ago. Mike, his brother Arnold and their cousin Jack began running the deli’s produce concession in Castor Gardens in the late 1950s, then bought the business from the Auspitz family around 1960. The Auspitz family had operated a Philadelphia deli chain since the 1920s.

As Jewish families moved farther into Northeast Philadelphia, the Steins moved the deli too. It relocated to Krewstown Road in the mid-1970s, later operated two locations there, and moved about 14 years ago to its final site on Grant Avenue. Longtime customer Aileen Owens said she expected the deli would eventually close because synagogues and other Jewish institutions had faded as residents moved to the suburbs.

There’s nobody around. Synagogues and all that stuff, it’s all fading out. They went to the suburbs.

— Aileen OwensOwens connected the closure to the decline of Jewish life in the neighborhood.

Lee Stein, Steve’s 57-year-old son, began helping at the deli at age eight. He now hopes to open a place of his own in the suburbs, giving the family business a possible new chapter.

I’m looking to have a place of my own.

— Lee SteinStein’s son described his hope of continuing the family business in the suburbs.
About this summary

Originally published by Jerusalem Post in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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