PHILADELPHIA (JTA) — After running the family deli for several decades, Steve Stein says his 83-year-old legs were telling him it was time to call it quits. But it wasn’t only that.

The neighborhood has totally changed since his dad, Mike, first took over the business more than 60 years ago. Back then, Northeast Philadelphia was an epicenter of Jewish life, packed with synagogues and other Jewish establishments. Most of them are gone. And now, with the close of Steve Stein’s Famous Deli and Restaurant, the area just lost its last Jewish deli — but only after an outpouring of affection from longtime customers, who flocked to the place once news spread in the last few weeks.

“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.”

To be sure, several customers told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that they’ll miss Stein, but they also bemoaned the fact that there aren’t many Jewish food options left. Certainly none with prices as low as Famous.

“I’ve been going there my whole life, “ said Rebecca Asheuer, who grew up a few miles away from Famous’s current location — its third since the Steins took over the business. “I feel surprise and sadness, because it’s the last one in the Northeast.”

“I think the Jewish people are moving out of the city, and also the businesses used to be passed down in families. Now with the economy and other stuff, people don’t want to take over the family business anymore,” she said.

Another longtime customer mourned the closing of the deli, but also the disappearance of Jewish life in the area.

“I kind of expected it to go sooner or later,” said Aileen Owens, who remembered going to Famous when the Auspitz family ran it over six decades ago. “There’s nobody around. Synagogues and all that stuff, it’s all fading out. They went to the suburbs.”

According to Steve’s account, his father Mike Stein, Mike’s........

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