On Broome Street, just west of Allen Street, most of the signs have Chinese lettering. But there is a modest wooden door inscribed with Hebrew letters; behind it sits Kehila Kedosha Janina, the last Greek Jewish synagogue in the city, its members and Jewish historians say.

After Saturday morning services, 15 or 20 congregants eat chocolate cake in the basement. Sitting at a separate table from the women, some of the men drink ouzo, the Greek liqueur.

They are Greek Jews, from a town in northwest Greece called Janina, once the capital of Greek Jewry. They also belong to a little-known division of Judaism, the main ones being Ashkenazic and Sephardic. ''We use Sephardic prayer books, although we have our own special chants,'' said Hy Genee, the synagogue's president.

From about 1890 to 1935, economic and natural disasters spurred a mass migration of Greek Jews to the Lower East Side, where several synagogues were established. The Kehila Kedosha Janina synagogue, founded in 1927, once had three rabbis. Some of Greece's Jewish population survived most of the Holocaust, only to perish during its last six months, on death trains to Auschwitz or in a death camp in Athens.

In May, the synagogue celebrated its 70th anniversary with the opening of a museum detailing Greek Jewish history on its second floor.

The museum was the project of Isaac Dostis, whose father took him as a child to the Kehila Kedosha Janina synagogue, and who recently rediscovered his religious and cultural roots. ''I thought I was Sephardic,'' said Mr. Dostis, who runs an acting troupe in New Jersey.

Convinced that the Greek Jewish culture in New York was in danger of disappearing into oblivion, he created a tiny museum in the women's gallery. It is open from 11 A.M. to 4 P.M. on Sundays, and Mr. Dostis has plans for expanding it with a library, art gallery and Greek cafe.

He estimates that the synagogue has 1,000 members. On Rosh ha-Shanah and Yom Kippur, perhaps 150 come. But on Saturdays, the number is seldom greater than 35.

The synagogue survives on private donations, said Murray Eskononts, the vice president, who was born across the street. ''We have very few expenses,'' he said, pointing out that there is no ordained rabbi and the synagogue is run by volunteers. ''Although we could use a paint job. I don't think it's been painted since it was opened.'' JANET ALLON

Photo: Isaac Dostis, who created a small museum at a Greek synagogue. (Jack Manning/The New York Times) Chart: ''MILESTONES -- Greek Jews: The History'' 70 A.D. -- First Jews settle in area that will become Janina (lonnina) in northwestern Greece, after escaping from a Roman slaveship. MIDDLE AGES -- Jews are persecuted in the Byzantine empire. Ionnina is taken by the Turks in 1431. The Jewish community grows when refugees from the Spanish Inquisition arrive. 1890-1915 -- Earthquakes, famine and exonomics spur many Greek Jews to move to the New World. 1994 -- Nearly 2,000 Jews from Janina, along with those from other parts of a divided Greece are sent to the Haidari concentration camp in Athens or put on Trains to Auschwitz. It is estimated that 65,000 of 80,000 Greek Jews died in the Holocaust. (Source: Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, 280 Broome Street)