Famous 4th Street deli about to be sold

This article was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on March 21, 2005

They're changing the lox at Famous .

Famous 4th Street Delicatessen in Queen Village, where politicos and commoners have gathered over pastrami and corned beef for nearly three-quarters of a century, will be sold Thursday.

The quintessential Jewish deli, part of an anachronistic amalgam of corner grocery, takeout counter and restaurant, is passing from one deli man to another.

David Auspitz, 59, son of the Hungarian immigrant who opened at Fourth and Bainbridge Streets in 1933, has a buyer for the business and property. He is Russ Cowan, 49, a fourth-generation Brooklyn deli man who has run popular delis in Philadelphia, in Cherry Hill, and at the Shore with his wife, Ilene.

The Famous name will remain, as will some employees, Cowan said. The store will close Thursday to start three weeks of cleaning and renovation.

"This is right for everybody," said Cowan, who plans an expansive menu of Eastern European-inspired specialties reminiscent of those served at the Kibitz Room in Cherry Hill, which he founded but no longer runs. Cowan will expand Famous' hours into the evening.

Why sell? "Eighty hours a week, seven days a week for 35 years," Auspitz said. He was an investment banker in 1970 when he was summoned home to help when his father, Sam, got sick. (Sam died in 1989.) Auspitz's only child, Debra, does not want to run the business.

"This is not a fire sale," he said, emphasizing that his health was good and not a reason for the deal. In fact, Auspitz said, the deli was not even for sale when he was approached.

In the summer, Philadelphia real estate developer Jack Blumenfeld was eating in a deli that Cowan operated in Ocean City, N.J. "Out of the clear blue, he said, 'Do you know what place you should buy? Famous,' " Cowan said. The two deli men talked over the next months. Auspitz found it significant that his father had bought the shop from a family named Cohen, a variation of Cowan.

Satisfied that Cowan would keep Famous going, Auspitz said, he accepted Cowan 's first offer. Neither man would disclose terms. The real estate alone could be worth about $750,000, given the neighborhood price of $100 a square foot.

"I'll have enough to eat at Famous," said Auspitz, who lives a block and a half away.

Auspitz will keep the Famous 4th Street cookie business founded by his wife, Janie, whom he met in the deli in 1976. (He said he had scolded her for blocking the view of the fish case. They were married a year later.) The cookies, baked in a nearby building, are sold on the Internet at famouscookies.com and at the Reading Terminal Market.

Part of Famous' charm are the characters pulling up chairs at breakfast and lunch - District Attorney Lynne M. Abraham, State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, Philadelphia Gay News publisher Mark Segal, union leader John Dougherty, Comcast-Spectacor vice chairman Fred Shabel, Gov. Rendell, Mayor Street, and countless ward leaders, aides and hangers-on.

Not all choose to sit together, and that's fine with Auspitz. "Ninety-eight percent of the customers are my friends," said Auspitz, who also is chairman of the city's Zoning Hearing Board of Adjustment. He is fond of saying, "Deals are made at Famous and are shown off at the Palm."

"Famous is not going away," Cowan said. "It's just being passed on."

Cowan is known as a stickler for authenticity in the fading realm of Jewish delicatessens, and has created nearly a dozen, including Bread & Bagels near the Cherry Hill Mall and Kibitz in the City near Jewelers Row. Cowan later sold the shops, although he still has an interest in the Kibitz Room.

He insisted he would keep Famous. "This is not a build-and-sell. This is our finale."

Famous traces its roots to 1923, when a teenage Sam Auspitz, his two brothers, and two brothers-in-law opened at 31st and York Streets in North Philadelphia. It was the first of what became five Famous Delis. The Fourth Street store is the last. Other delis bearing the Famous name are unrelated.