Those who remember places such as Uhrs Restaurant in Philadelphia and the Ambassador, probably also recall that it wasn't unusual for the trolley car to make its stop in the middle of the block - not the corner - so that riders could get off right in front of the door.

Bobby Block will be bringing his band for a special concert at Congregation Rodef Sholom, with comedian Al Long, Sunday, Aug. 24 at 8 p.m. Bobby Block remembers those days very well. He can rattle off at least 20 kosher catering houses that were an integral part of Philadelphia Jewish social life back in the 1950s faster than some people can say kasha varnishkes.

Twenty? "That's right," he says. "There had to be about a dozen on Broad Street alone."

Block knows. When he recalls the names of the kosher catering houses he sounds as if he's reading the Yellow Pages. The Northwood and the Doral. The Broadwood. And on and on . . .

But then it's easy for him, as he and his band are still playing the klezmer and Yiddish music that had filled those now long-gone venues for so many years.

Block, who started his own band in the early '50s when he was 22, will be performing with his Bobby Block Variety Show at Rodef Sholom's 7th Annual Stanley Goldstein Memorial Concert at the synagogue on Aug. 24, at 8 p.m.

Block is no stranger to Atlantic County. He has performed here over the years to crowds who welcome him back as if he were a long-lost cousin. When you play music people associate with family, you become part of that family.

In the old days, Block says, families were really close. A hamish catered affair with Jewish music was a genuine good time.

He recalls playing klezmer at a Jewish nightclub at 5th and Pine, called the Pine Plaza, when he was 19. "I played there for three years, once or twice a week, every Saturday night and sometimes on Sundays."

"It wasn't my band, I was one of the guys in Charlie Baron's band. He had been the conductor at the Arch Street Theater, which was an all-Jewish theater.

"I started playing at the age of 12 with the sax. Having grown up in a Yiddish speaking household with rather religious parents. I was exposed to Yiddish theater music, which in New York would be Second Avenue. The shows would travel to Philadelphia and they took me to these shows."

Block discovered that he had a knack for memorizing and he would come home and play what he had heard at the theater. So even today, when he's asked for requests, there is hardly anything someone can ask that he can't play.

Klezmer, Block says, is a different style of music than the traditional Yiddish melodies with which most people grew up. "In fact," Block says, "Yiddish music is disappearing, but not the klezmer." Not like the old days, when he was at the Pine Plaza and played Jewish theater music for five hours straight.

While the music was popular, Block remembers that it was difficult to break into a new band. That's when he decided to start his own.

"I would look for the engagement notices in the Exponent, as I knew they would need a band for the wedding eventually, and so I would call and solicit," he says.

"My first band was four pieces. I would go down to the union hall and hire freelance musicians. At one time I would not be without at least a six-piece band. The largest was about 17 or 18 musicians. Then we would sometimes book a string group that would play for just the wedding ceremony and cocktail hour and alternate with the band during dinner.

"It was really beautiful," he says. "The Jewish music business was a world unto itself."

Jewish music and klezmer is not all that Block plays.

"I went on to become a Latin band around 1953. We played Latin music all the time. Until this day I love that music. And he's quite adept at Broadway tunes. "I used to play parties at the country clubs and society affairs. So even today I still do some of that music where you're playing a whole night of Cole Porter, Gershwin. You know, the other end of the shtick.

"I've been playing a lot of ballroom music now, ever since "Dancing With the Stars" there has been a resurgence of ballroom dance music. I'm doing that now at least once a week."

Bobby Block is still doing it all. Second Avenue theater to high society. Which means he's at home whether it's petit fours at Philadelphia's Union League or butlered knishes at a synagogue affair.

Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 at the door. Refreshments will be served. For information call Raye, 822-5425.